German agency doubts US coronavirus allegations against Chinese lab

Germany's federal intelligence agency doubts US allegations that COVID-19 "originated in a Chinese laboratory," saying the allegations were aimed at diverting attention from US failure to contain the disease, US television network CNBC said, citing a German magazine report on Friday.

The German Federal Intelligence Service had asked members of the US-led "Five Eyes" intelligence alliance for evidence to support the allegations, but none of the five wanted to back the allegations stemming from US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, CNBC said in an article on its website.

The "Five Eyes" intelligence alliance, which comprises Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Britain and the United States, is bound by a treaty for joint cooperation in signals intelligence.

In a report prepared for German Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, BND concluded that the US allegations "were a deliberate attempt to divert public attention from US President Donald Trump's 'own failures,'" according to CNBC.

The top US intelligence agency has said the US intelligence community does not believe the coronavirus was manmade or genetically modified.

The US intelligence community "concurs with the wide scientific consensus that the COVID-19 virus was not manmade or genetically modified," the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence said in a statement in late April.