Joe Biden has ordered the US intelligence community to intensify its efforts to study the origins of coronavirus, adding that it will continue to press for China to participate in a full investigation.

The president said he received a report earlier this month with the “most up-to-date analysis of the origins of Covid-19”, but had asked intelligence agencies to “redouble” their efforts to identify a “definitive conclusion” on how the virus was first transmitted in humans.

“I have now asked the intelligence community to redouble their efforts to collect and analyze information that could bring us closer to a definitive conclusion, and to report back to me in 90 days. As part of that report, I have asked for areas of further inquiry that may be required, including specific questions for China,” Biden said in a statement on Wednesday.