A classified report by the U.S. Energy Department has concluded that the Covid virus likely originated from a laboratory leak. The report was provided to the White House and key members of Congress.

This is a decided shift from the department’s previous stance, which was undecided on how the virus emerged. Now the Energy Department joins the Federal Bureau of Investigation in reporting that the virus likely spread due to a Chinese laboratory.

The department’s conclusion came after obtaining new intelligence and it is significant because the agency has considerable scientific expertise. It oversees a network of U.S. national laboratories that conduct advanced biological research. However, according to people who have read the classified report, the department made its judgment with “low confidence.”

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But did not stop people on social media from reacting to the report. Many of them demanded that Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top immunologist who formerly served as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, be prosecuted. There were previously rumors that Fauci was being paid funds not to investigate the origin of the coronavirus in China.

Fauci always emphasized the safety and efficacy of the approved Covid vaccines in preventing severe illness and deaths, encouraging people to get vaccinated and boosted as soon as possible.

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Here are some of the reactions from people on social media:

Will Anthony Fauci be prosecuted?

This is not the first time that calls for Fauci’s prosecution has grown. Last year, Twitter owner Elon Musk said that Fauci should be criminally prosecuted for funding research that “killed millions of people” in the Covid-19 pandemic. “My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci,” Musk first tweeted. “Forcing your pronouns upon others when they didn’t ask, and implicitly ostracizing those who don’t, is neither good nor kind to anyone. As for Fauci, he lied to Congress and funded gain-of-function research that killed millions of people. Not awesome imo (in my opinion).”

At the time, talking to Fox News, Fauci replied to Musk saying, “I have no idea what he’s talking about, Neil. I wish I did. I mean, I just – I’m clueless about what he’s referring to. He’s talking about the ‘Fauci Files,’ was supposed to come out last week. We’re now at the end of this week. I just don’t understand what he’s doing.”

In congressional hearings, Dr. Fauci asserted that he has “absolutely nothing to hide at all” and “a great deal of respect for the process of oversight,”