Trump confident that coronavirus may have originated in Chinese lab

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks about Trump Administration efforts to protect senior citizens from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic during an event in the East Room at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 30, 2020. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he was confident the coronavirus may have originated in a Chinese virology lab, but declined to describe the evidence, ratcheting up tensions with Beijing over the origins of the deadly outbreak.

Trump did not mince words at a White House event on Thursday, when asked if he had seen evidence that gave him a "high degree of confidence" the virus came from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.