A US GOVERNMENT department has concluded with “low confidence” that the Covid-19 virus “likely” originated from a lab in Wuhan.

The information purportedly comes from a classified report delivered to senior politicians sitting on the nation’s House and Senate Intelligence committees, according to NBC News.

There have been conflicting theories on the origin of the virus, with the latest review reportedly agreeing with consensus that Covid-19 was not the result of a Chinese bioweapon.

Briefings are reported to have been held in recent weeks about the classified report, the broadcaster said, after the news was first reported yesterday by The Wall Street Journal.

However the information has come with an advisory that America’s intelligence community is not viewing the conclusion as significant due to disagreements about the origins of the virus from various agencies.

According to NBC, the report also described the “likely” laboratory-related leak as an “accident”.

The Energy Department oversees a network of 17 US laboratories.

It told US media that the agency “continues to support the thorough, careful, and objective work of our intelligence professionals in investigating the origins of COVID-19, as the President directed.”

Last month, the World Health Organisation appealed to China to keep releasing information about its wave of Covid-19 infections after the government announced nearly 60,000 deaths since early December following weeks of complaints that it was failing to tell the world what was happening.

Contains reporting from PA