A 2020 scientific report from US national laboratory found it plausible Covid-19 leaked from Wuhan lab

A study prepared by Lawrence Livermore Lab's "Z Division" in May 2020 "concluded that the hypothesis claiming the virus leaked from a Chinese lab in Wuhan is plausible and deserves further investigation, according to people familiar with the classified document," the Wall Street Journal reports.

The study was used as the basis of a State Department inquiry into the pandemic's origins during the last year of the Trump administration.

Lawrence Livermore's "Z Division" is the Lab's intelligence arm. Citing an unnamed source, Forbes notes, "Lawrence Livermore has considerable expertise on biological issues. Its assessment drew on genomic analysis of the SARS-COV-2 virus, which causes Covid-19."

Reuters reports that "U.S. intelligence agencies are considering two likely scenarios - that the virus resulted from a laboratory accident or that it emerged from human contact with an infected animal - but they have not come to a conclusion..."