White House Declares Lab Leak the “True Origin” of COVID-19 in Website Overhaul

The Biden-era COVID information portal has been replaced by a Trump White House-backed site declaring a lab leak as the “true origin” of the pandemic, marking a sharp shift in the administration’s messaging.

This week, the former Covid.gov site—once dedicated to public health guidance on testing, vaccines, treatment, and long COVID—was rebranded as a new platform titled: "Lab Leak: The True Origin of COVID-19."

The site features a prominent image of President Donald Trump and promotes arguments long supported by Trump and House Republicans, including claims that the virus likely escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan, China. The messaging appears to draw heavily from a December 2024 report by the House GOP Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic.

Among the key claims: that SARS-CoV-2 shows “biological features not found in nature,” and that genetic tracing suggests the virus originated from a single human exposure event—unlike previous pandemics, which involved broader zoonotic spread. The site notes that Wuhan is home to China’s leading SARS research lab, which allegedly conducted gain-of-function experiments without proper biosecurity standards.

The site also highlights reports that several researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology fell ill with COVID-like symptoms in mid-2019—months before the virus was officially identified and linked to the Huanan seafood market.

“If there were clear evidence supporting a natural origin, it would have been disclosed long ago,” the site claims.

The White House also targets Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, accusing him and other officials of manipulating a 2020 scientific paper that supported the natural origin theory. The page suggests the paper was “designed to mislead the public,” although Fauci and the paper’s authors have repeatedly denied these allegations, stating the research was independent and not politically motivated.

China, for its part, has consistently rejected the lab leak theory and previously welcomed a WHO team to inspect the Wuhan facility.

One section of the site features a photo of Dr. Fauci alongside what it describes as a “preemptive pardon” from President Joe Biden—implying concerns about transparency during the pandemic response. The page questions the federal government’s openness at the time, particularly given Fauci’s central role in shaping public health policy.

The site further criticizes federal agencies such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), alleging they failed to meet congressional oversight and transparency standards—despite both agencies having complied with Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and participated in public hearings.

Also resurfaced are Trump’s past criticisms of COVID-19 mitigation strategies such as lockdowns, mask mandates, and social distancing. The White House page singles out New York state’s pandemic response for specific rebuke.

This is not the first time Trump has pushed the lab leak narrative. During his first term, he repeatedly referred to COVID-19 as the “China virus,” sparking backlash from Beijing and condemnation from global health experts.

(Sources: ABC News, Associated Press)

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