China

Report: Angela Merkel Concealed Intel Linking COVID to China

Published MAR 13 2025

Story

Above: Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel attends the presentation of her book Liberta at Rizzoli Galleria in Milan, Italy, on Dec. 11, 2024. Image credit: Alessandro Bremec/Contributor/NurPhoto via Getty Images

The Facts

Reports have emerged that Germany's foreign intelligence agency conducted an operation codenamed "Saaremaa" in 2020, analyzing public data and classified intelligence from Chinese research institutions — including the Wuhan Institute of Virology — to investigate the origins of COVID.
Firstpost
Dw.Com
Die Zeit and Sueddeutscher Zeitung reported Wednesday that the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) concluded with an 80-95% probability that the pandemic originated from a laboratory accident at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Reuters
Stuff
According to their joint report, then-Chancellor Angela Merkel received the intelligence findings but classified the information. Her successor, Olaf Scholz, maintained this position of non-disclosure.
The Times (UK)
The Telegraph
The report claims that the intelligence was not shared with Germany's allies until December 2024 — when Berlin communicated the findings to the US — nor was it made public.
Firstpost
Süddeutsche.de
ZEIT ONLINE
This comes after the CIA made similar assessments about the lab leak theory in January, though the CIA noted it had "low confidence" in its findings. The FBI and the Department of Energy also publicly back the theory that COVID most likely had lab, rather than natural origins.
Al Jazeera
NBC
Last month, China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Guo Jiakun, said: "the Wuhan Institute of Virology has never engaged in gain-of-function studies of coronavirus. Never has it designed, made, or leaked COVID-19."
Voice of America
Daily Wire

Sources Split

LEFT

CENTER

RIGHT

ESTAB
CRIT

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PRO
ESTAB

The Spin

Narrative A

Merkel's decision to withhold crucial intelligence about COVID's origins wreaked havoc on her country and Europe, as well as preventing proper international investigation and accountability. The high confidence assessment could have significantly influenced global response to the pandemic and relations with China.

Firstpost

Stuff

Narrative B

Personal attacks on Merkel or baseless intel reports don't change the continuing likelihood that the SARS-CoV-2 originated in nature, not in a laboratory. The lab leak theory remains unproven despite various intelligence assessments, and peer-reviewed scientific evidence shows that it's entirely possible COVID had natural origins.

Nature