Modelled Coronavirus

Imagine it as a film. A mystery virus with no known cure is ravaging the globe; families are told to stay inside; hospitals are overrun.

It originates in a Chinese city, supposedly at a bustling produce market. Just across the river towers an imposing laboratory, which just so happens to be one of the leading coronavirus research centres in the world, with over nineteen thousand samples.

In a film, the answer would be simple. The virus began in one of the world's foremost authoritarianEnforcing strict obedience to authority. countries. Nobody's jaw is dropping when the hero discovers that the virus was genetically engineered as a grasp at world domination.

But we are not living in a film. And so claims from the FBIThe Federal Bureau of Investigation, which investigates crimes on a national level in the USA. and the US Energy Department in recent days that the virus was most likely caused by a leak from Wuhan's laboratories have been greeted with controversy.

In early stages of the pandemic, conspiracies that the virus had been engineered were rife. But scientific consensus stated that the virus had probably originated in bats, pangolins or minks and had spread naturally to humans (known as "zoonotic transmission").

Since there are no viable colonies of these animals near Wuhan, though, some thought it could have spread from bats through a secondary species, as was the case in a 2002 SARSSevere Acute Respiratory Syndrome, a disease that makes it very difficult to breathe. virus epidemic. But despite extensive sampling in China, nobody has found a potential culprit.

Meanwhile, proponentsSomeone who proposes something, or at least supports it by speaking and writing in favour of it. of the "lab leak" theory have focused on the fact that researchers in Wuhan were studying a coronavirus strain which is 96.2% similar to SARS-CoV-2.

And according to US intelligence, three researchers from the Institute researching coronaviruses were hospitalised with an illness displaying symptoms "consistent with Covid-19" in November 2019, just weeks before the widespread outbreak.

The "lab leak" or bioweapon theory may be becoming more popular, but hard-and-fast believers are still in a tiny minority, and most think that the 'natural origins' theory holds more water.

Regardless of the pandemic's origins, many believe we should see it as a warning of the potential devastation that biowarfare could wreak. Coronaviruses have been circulating for centuries and can still bring humanity to its knees. New technologies could create biological weapons capable of wiping us out entirely.

Yes: There is now so much evidence that the virus was engineered by mankind. It is no coincidence that China will not let researchers investigate its origins, and it is suspicious that scientists have not found an exact origin yet if it is natural.

No: As some scientists say, "nature is the best bioterrorist". It is highly unlikely that the virus was engineered - so many types of viruses are constantly evolving and circulating in nature that inevitably deadly ones like Covid-19 will happen sometimes.

Or... Even if a lab leak did take place, it is no guarantee that Covid was designed as a weapon. In fact, there is no evidence supporting this idea. In the worst case scenario, it is a result of poor lab practice or a simple human mistake.