The CIA has officially weighed in on the origins of the COVID-19 virus, concluding it likely escaped from a Chinese lab.

The origins of the COVID-19 virus have been hotly debated since the early days of the pandemic. While many experts believe the virus occurred naturally, others have maintained it likely escaped from a research lab in Wuhan. The FBI and Department of Energy, for example, have cited an accidental lab leak as the most likely source of the virus.

Until now, the CIA has remained neutral, not endorsing either theory of the virus’ origins. According to multiple outlets, including CNN and The Guardian, John Ratcliffe made the decision to declassify the CIA’s findings and take an official stance one if his first actions as new director of the agency.

“I’ve been on record as you know in saying I think our intelligence, our science, and our common sense all really dictates that the origins of COVID was a leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology,” Ratcliffe told Breitbart, via CNN. “But the CIA has not made that assessment or at least not made that assessment publicly. So I’m going to focus on that and look at the intelligence and make sure that the public is aware that the agency is going to get off the sidelines.”

While the CIA is now saying a lab leak is the likely, the agency is not ruling out a natural occurance of the virus.

“CIA continues to assess that both research-related and natural origin scenarios of the COVID-19 pandemic remain plausible,” a CIA spokesperson said in a statement Saturday.

“We have low confidence in this judgment and will continue to evaluate any available credible new intelligence reporting or open-source information that could change CIA’s assessment.”

As CNN points out, despite the CIA’s new official stance, US intelligence agencies do not believe the virus was engineered, intentionally released, or the result of bio-weapon research. Even if the virus originated in a lab, the evidence continues to point to its release being accidental.

Laboratories around the world conduct research into a wide range of viruses and diseases to better understand them and develop cures. The research is instrumental in preventing worst-case scenario outbreaks. The evidence continues to suggest that the Wuhan lab was engaged in that type of research, and the virus leak was the result of an accident, not malicious action.