Sir Dearlove, who was head of MI6 from 1999 to 2004, told the Daily Telegraph that the research shows that the pandemic that paralyzes the world may have started in a lab.

He suggested that a biosecurity failure might have led to the virus escaping during an experiment with bat coronaviruses. Dearlove added that he thought it unlikely to have been released deliberately, but that China had clearly tried to cover up the release.

“I I think this started as an accident. This raises the question of whether China will assume responsibility and whether China should pay compensation. I think this will make all countries think through their relationship with China and how they relate to China's leadership,” said Dearlove. He also added that the report had been rejected by multiple scientific publications to avoid angering China.

super short article, but the last sentence was on the nose I think.