Overview

• A newly surfaced 2022 Defense Department report confirms that seven U.S. service members exhibited COVID-19-like symptoms after attending the 2019 World Military Games in Wuhan, months before the virus's official emergence.
• The Biden administration withheld the report, mandated for public release under the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, until it was uploaded online in March 2025 by the Trump administration.
• The report strengthens claims that COVID-19 was circulating in Wuhan as early as October 2019, with corroboration from international athletes who also reported similar symptoms after the games.
• Intelligence agencies, including the CIA and FBI, have increasingly supported the theory that the virus originated from a lab leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, located near the games' venue.
• Lawmakers, including Sen. Jodi Ernst and Rep. Ronny Jackson, are calling for further investigations into the origins of COVID-19 and the timeline of its early spread.