Three researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology were hospitalized in November 2019, around the time that coronavirus may have begun spreading in Wuhan, according to a U.S. intelligence assessment obtained by the Wall Street Journal.
The assessment appears to confirm a State Department fact sheet, released by the Trump administration, fell sick “with symptoms consistent with both Covid-19 and common seasonal illness.”
Current and former intelligence officials differed regarding the strength of the assessment, with one official saying the report needed additional verification. However, another official said the report was significant.
“The information that we had coming from the various sources was of exquisite quality. It was very precise,” that official told the Journal. “What it didn’t tell you was exactly why [the researchers] got sick.”
