China says it's "extremely unlikely" that COVID-19​ came from a lab, after the CIA said it believed​, though with low confidence, that it did, rather than from natural transmission.

The problem for the lab-leak position is that the U.S. has never had access to the Wuhan lab and has thus been unable to reach a definitive answer for more than five years. Now that the CIA has at last come to a conclusion, not all scientists are sold on what it has reported, seeing the results as thinly scientifically sourced.

Newly-confirmed CIA Director John Ratcliffe told Fox News the decision to release a Biden-era analysis favoring the COVID-19 lab leak theory is a step toward transparency.

The intelligence agency says it has ‘low confidence’ in assessment and will continue to evaluate credible information.

The CIA now assesses the virus that causes Covid-19 more likely originated from an accidental lab leak in China, rather than occurring naturally, according to a statement from the agency Saturday, just days after Director John Ratcliffe took the reins.

CIA director John Ratcliffe ordered the release of a declassified assessment about the origin theory of COVID-19.

The Central Intelligence Agency previously said that two explanations were plausible, a lab leak or a natural source for the virus. Yet under new agency director John Ratcliffe, the CIA has changed its view, which is now in line with that of the Department of Energy and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The CIA investigated the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic, and determined, with low confidence, the origin was likely a lab leak in China.

Langley joins the FBI and Energy Department in agreeing that a lab leak is the most likely source of the pandemic.

The CIA says both a natural origin and a lab leak "remain plausible" as potential sources of covid-19, following a review of the pandemic's origins.

It was unclear the extent to which the agency has collected new intelligence on COVID-19's origins and whether that new evidence was used to formulate the latest assessment.

The CIA says lab leak is most likely source of COVID outbreak. But there is no consensus among scientists whether it originated in nature or from an accidental leak. Not to mention the fact we're still living with COVID: The World Health Organization COVID-19 Dashboard continues to report hundreds of thousands of cases every month worldwide.