COVID-19 virus origins still unknown, say US intelligence chiefs

US intelligence agencies maintain there's still no consensus on the origins of the COVID-19 virus.

"All agencies assess that two hypotheses are plausible explanations for the origin of COVID-19: natural exposure to an infected animal and a laboratory-associated incident," the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said in a report presented Wednesday for a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing.

Intelligence agencies continue to investigate how the virus first infected humans, according to the assessment, which is unchanged from last year.

The World Health Organisation said all hypotheses for the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic are still on the table. On Wednesday, US lawmakers plan to grill former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Robert Redfield and others who have various theories on how the pandemic originated.

The US is set to lift COVID-19 testing requirements for travelers from China as soon as this week, people familiar with the matter said, a significant step toward normalising links between the two countries as the pandemic recedes.

The measure will be lifted because the US has evidence that cases, hospitalizations and deaths are declining in China, they added.