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 market in China. But 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. that the virus was most likely caused by a leak from Wuhan's laboratories have caused controversy.

In early stages of the pandemic, conspiracies that the virus had been engineered were common. But scientific consensus stated that the virus had probably originated in bats, pangolins or minks and had spread naturally to humans.

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 species.

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" shortly before the widespread outbreak.

Regardless of the pandemic's origins, many believe we should see it as a warning of the dangers of biowarfare. If a natural virus could shut down the world, what could a deliberately engineered weapon do?

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.