US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, seen in March 2020, has declared that China is carrying out genocide against the mostly Muslim Uighur people
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, seen in March 2020, has declared that China is carrying out genocide against the mostly Muslim Uighur people AFP / ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS

In an interview Sunday on Fox News, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo remained adamant that COVID-19 originated from China's Wuhan Institute of Virology. Pompeo provided no evidence to back up his claim.

Host Chris Wallace asked Pompeo directly if he believed the coronavirus was leaked from the Wuhan Institute, to which Pompeo flatly responded, “I do."

Pompeo had said, “There’s a pile of evidence a hundred feet high."

Wallace had pointed out that Pompeo and other Trump administration officials had "almost a year" to press China on the origins of the coronavirus and that Trump pulled back from the World Health Organization.

"What did President Trump and his administration — including his secretary of state — do to press China harder to get the evidence on where the COVID-19 virus came from?" Wallace asked Pompeo.

Pompeo said there was a "really good idea" of the origins of COVID-19. Without providing any specifics, he said there is an "enormous amount of evidence that there was a leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology."

Pompeo said the administration "got very close to being able to make a lay-down case for what actually happened." He added that, "We know enough now. The cover-up continues. And it's time for accountability."

While it's unclear if there has been a cover-up, the Chinese government has faced criticism for blocking investigations into the origins of COVID-19. The Chinese embassy has described the laboratory theory as a smear campaign.

U.S. intelligence has not concluded whether COVID-19 came from a lab leak or from human contact with an infected animal. In late May, President Joe Biden ordered intelligence officials to "redouble" its investigation into COVID-19.

On Sunday, Biden and G7 members released a vow to find answers about China’s role in the coronavirus pandemic. They called for a “timely, transparent, expert-led study to be conducted on China."

A growing number of Americans believe that COVID was leaked from a lab. Fifty-eight percent of Americans put the origins of COVID-19 in a Chinese laboratory — up from 49% in May 2020, according to a YouGov poll.

"I think there’s a very good chance we will never know the answer," Harvard epidemiologist Marc Lipsitch told New York Magazine.

There have been 3.8 million COVID-related deaths and 168 million COVID cases worldwide.