Secretary Azar at the briefing today (from 1:05:30) youtube.com/watch?v=_O39dQ_XFdg

"We knew about SARS, we knew about MERS, which were earlier modifications or variants of the corona virus. Uh, none of those achieved anything like what we are seeing today."

Modified corona virus which has a goal that can be achieved. Sounds like Chinese op to me…