"Coronavirus may have escaped from Chinese lab" (German ultra-secret report)

In early 2020, Chinese authorities declared that Covid-19 had naturally transmitted from animal to human at a wildlife market in Wuhan. Agents of the German State Security searched for the origin of the coronavirus in a secret mission called 'Operation Saaremaa'. This was reported by three German investigative journalists from Die Zeit and Süddeutsche Zeitung.

The agents focused on the Wuhan Institute of Virology and scientist Shi Zhengli. They discovered unpublished Chinese research data pointing to experiments with coronaviruses, as well as reports about safety issues in the lab.

A computer model from the German State Security assigned a high probability score (80-95%) to the theory that the virus escaped from the lab. This report reached the then-Chancellor Angela Merkel, but she kept it secret, labelling the information as explosive and highly sensitive.

Her successor Olaf Scholz did the same until the German government granted permission by the end of 2024 to share the report with US intelligence agencies and several leading German scientists.

The CIA declared in early 2025 that a lab leak is the most probable scenario, although the agency also expressed ‘low confidence’ in the available information. China rejects the accusations and regards the revelations as a Western strategy to discredit the country.

(HL - Source: Die Zeit via HLN - Picture: Unsplash)