World leaders attending the 2021 G7 summit released a communique calling for a "transparent, expert-led and science-based" second tranch of the investigation into the origins of COVID-19 to be convened by the World Health Organization (WHO) in China.
Speaking to media at the summit, President Biden emphasised the importance of transparency, highlighting the uncertainty around the origins of the virus.
"As of today, the US intelligence community has coalesced around two likely scenarios but has not reached a definitive conclusion on this question," President Biden said.
Non-Resident Senior Fellow Dr John Lee explained to SBS that the lab leak theory had existed from the start, but had been dismissed in part "because it was the preferred explanation of former president Donald Trump."
Dr Lee warned against politicisation having any bearing on a theory's credibility, but said President Biden's remarks at the G7 was a “recognition that we don’t know the source but both those theories have credible aspects to them that need to be investigated”.