
Biden says he's asked intelligence community to "redouble" efforts in examining origins of COVID-19
CBSN
Washington — President Biden said Wednesday he has ordered the U.S. intelligence community to "redouble" its efforts to investigate the origins of COVID-19 after a new report fueled questions about whether the virus originated in a lab in Wuhan, China.
Mr. Biden said in a statement he is giving the intelligence community 90 days to "collect and analyze information that could bring us closer to a definitive conclusion" about where COVID-19 started and report back to him. As part of the requested report, the president asked for areas of additional inquiry that may be required, including specific questions for China. Mr. Biden said the effort will include work by Department of Energy's National Labs and other government agencies to supplement the intelligence community in its investigation. Mr. Biden said he received a report from the intelligence community earlier this month exploring whether COVID-19 emerged from human contact with an infected animal or through a laboratory accident, but the agencies are split.
Santa Fe, New Mexico — A representative for the estate of actor Gene Hackman is seeking to block the public release of autopsy and investigative reports, especially photographs and police body-camera video related to the recent deaths of Hackman and wife Betsy Arakawa after their partially mummified bodies were discovered at their New Mexico home in February.

In the past year, over 135 million passengers traveled to the U.S. from other countries. To infectious disease experts, that represents 135 million chances for an outbreak to begin. To identify and stop the next potential pandemic, government disease detectives have been discreetly searching for viral pathogens in wastewater from airplanes. Experts are worried that these efforts may not be enough.