U.S. intelligence agencies do not know the origins of the virus that causes COVID-19. “The U.S. Intelligence Community does not know exactly where, when, or how the COVID-19 virus was transmitted initially but has coalesced around two likely scenarios: either it emerged naturally from human contact with infected animals or it was a laboratory accident,” Amanda Schoch, assistant director of national intelligence for strategic communications, said in a statement on Thursday. Two elements of the community lean toward the former scenario while one leans toward the latter. However, all three have low to moderate confidence. Additionally, the majority of elements within the community “do not believe there is sufficient information to assess one to be more likely than the other,” Schoch said. Intelligence officials are continuing to examine evidence, consider various perspectives, and aggressively collect and analyze new information to identify the virus’s origins, she added. The first cases of …