A report on the origins of COVID-19 by a US government national laboratory concluded that the hypothesis of a virus leak from a Chinese lab in Wuhan is plausible and deserves further investigation, the Wall Street Journal said on Monday, citing people familiar with the classified document.

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The study was prepared in May 2020 by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California and was referred to by the State Department when it conducted an inquiry into the pandemic's origins during the final months of the Trump administration, the Wall Street Journal report said.

Lawrence Livermore's assessment drew on a genomic analysis of the COVID-19 virus, the Wall Street Journal said.

US President Joe Biden said last month he had ordered aides to find answers to the origin of the virus.

US intelligence agencies are considering two likely scenarios – that the virus resulted from a laboratory accident or that it emerged from human contact with an infected animal – but they have not come to a conclusion, Biden said.

A still-classified US intelligence report circulated during former President Donald Trump's administration alleged that three researchers at China's Wuhan Institute of Virology became so ill in November 2019 that they sought hospital care, US government sources have said.

US officials have accused China of not being transparent about the virus' origins, a charge Beijing has denied.

Separately, Mike Ryan, a top World Health Organization official said on Monday the WHO cannot compel China to divulge more data on COVID-19's origins, while adding it will propose studies needed to take understanding of where the virus emerged to the "next level."

Last week, Biden's pandemic adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci, told CNN: "I still believe the most likely origin is from an animal species to a human, but I keep an absolutely open mind that if there may be other origins of that, there may be another reason, it could have been a lab leak.

Fauci has been pilloried by conservative lawmakers and media outlets as a liar who misled the American people about the origins of COVID-19 to protect the Chinese government. Republican calls for his resignation have grown louder, as have demands for new investigations into the origins of the virus.

"Given what we know now, I don't know how anyone can have confidence that he should remain in a position of public trust and authority," said Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, a potential presidential hopeful who is calling for Fauci's resignation and a full congressional inquiry.

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To mark Holocaust Remembrance Day, which this year begins on the eve of April 7, International March of the Living, together with the Maimonides Institute for Ethics and the Holocaust, the Miller Center at Rutgers University, the USC Shoah Foundation and Teva Pharmaceuticals, will be holding hold an online symposium on "Medicine and Morality: Lessons from the Holocaust and COVID-19."

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The program, scheduled to air at 7 p.m. EST, will include testimony from survivors who were both persecuted by Nazi doctors as well as saved by medical professionals during the Holocaust. It will also feature world renowned medical professionals and researchers who will discuss medical resistance during the Holocaust, the legacy of Nazi medicine and what the Holocaust can teach us about the ethics of care.

During the symposium, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and Chief Medical Advisor to the US president, will receive the "Moral Courage in Medicine" award for his work in combatting COVID-19, his long history of leading the battle against infectious diseases, and his dedication to the health and wellbeing of humankind.

The event will also include a moving performance of "Schindler's List" by Grammy Award winner and United Nations Goodwill Ambassador of Music, Miri Ben-Ari, herself the descendant of Holocaust survivors.

Participating organizations include the World Medical Association, the Department of Education of the UNESCO Chair of Bioethics, the Israeli Medical Association, the Canadian Medical Association, the Indian Medical Association, the South African Medical Association and many others.

Vice-Chairman of the International March of the Living, Professor David Machlis, and Founding Director of the Maimonides Institute for Ethics and the Holocaust, Dr. Stacy Gallin, noted that this year in particular, it was appropriate to honor the activities and heroism of the medical community during the Holocaust by inviting practicing medical professionals to participate in all March of the Living events.

"We believe that hundreds of medical staff and medical students will tune in to watch a program that will be both informative and poignant," Machlis said.

Anyone interested in watching the symposium can register here.

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