US official tells British MPs China’s leaders admit previous claims coronavirus originated in a Wuhan market are false

According to The Daily Mail, Pottinger said that the latest intelligence points to the virus leaking from the top-secret Wuhan Institute of Virology, 11 miles from the market, and said, "There is a growing body of evidence that the lab is likely the most credible source of the virus."

Pottinger, allegedly made the claim in a recent Zoom meeting with British MPs while discussing China last week according to The Mail.

The Mail’s source said Pottinger claimed the pathogen may have escaped through a "leak or an accident," adding, "...even establishment figures in Beijing have openly dismissed the wet market story."

According to The Mail "Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory Party leader who attended the meeting, said Mr Pottinger's comments represented a 'stiffening' of the US position on the theory that the virus came from a leak at the laboratory, amid reports that the Americans are talking to a whistleblower from the Wuhan institute."

The Mail added that Pottinger also said that Beijing's refusal to allow journalists to visit the laboratory only served to increase suspicion that it was 'ground zero' for the pandemic.

Pottinger was one of the first US officials to raise concerns over the origins of the virus in January 2020. He has suspected since the beginning of the outbreak that the virus originated in a Chinese lab. Pottinger, speaks fluent Mandarin and previously worked as a journalist for Reuters and The Wall Street Journal, including seven years as its China correspondent. His older brother, Paul, is a virologist at the University of Washington.

In September, a Chinese virologist, Dr. Li-Meng Yan, who has reportedly been in hiding over fear for her safety, made the claim that she has scientific evidence to prove that COVID-19 was human-made in a lab in China

This news comes as World Health Organization experts are expected to meet in China in January to investigate how the virus originated after the country lied about the origin of the virus and the subsequent mishandling of the outbreak. Critics of China fear that the WHO will attempt to cover for China's alleged culpability in the outbreak. It was recently revealed that the WHO team recently will not investigate the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the only laboratory in China with the highest international bio-security grading, as a possible source of the coronavirus.