Is COVID-19 A Man-Made BioWeapon? Study Quashes Conspiracy Theories

The number of those infected by the deadly coronavirus has crossed 735,000 across the globe with the death toll not diverting from its upward spike with more than 34,000 dead since the first case of the pandemic was registered.

Even as scientists all over the world are striving to understand the origin of the virus and create a vaccine to contain it, many conspiracy theories are floating around, claiming that the COVID-19 pandemic isn’t a product of nature and is man-made.

As per one of the conspiracy theories, the virus has been genetically engineered and will be used as a biological weapon. But putting the wild claims to rest is a letter published in the journal "Nature".

The letter is by scientists currently observing the Covid-9 virus, trying to discern its origin and owing to their rigorous research, they have assured that virus is surely not a man-made, laboratory backed, bioweapon.

As per their analyses, it is clear that SARS-CoV-2 (the official name of the virus that causes COVID-19) has not been created in a “laboratory construct” and is not “a purposefully manipulated virus.”

According to the ongoing study, SARS-CoV-2 is seventh in the line of coronavirus types found in nature that have been known to affect humans-SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, HKU1, NL63, OC43, and 229E.

The study also debunks any claims regarding the virus being build on the skeleton of an existing virus as their data showed that "SARS-CoV-2 is not derived from any previously used virus backbone."

"We know that the origin of this virus is different than the original SARS virus," said Dr. Robert Garry, one of the authors of the study and a virologist at the Tulane University School of Medicine, in a YouTube video.

It was found that the virus either originated via- natural selection in animals before transmission in humans or through natural selection in humans after transmission from animals and had been evolving for a long time. All it needed was a "one little mutation" that “allowed it to spread more rapidly."

Garry and his team of scientists have come to the conclusion that the virus had, most probably, originated in bats and then combined with a virus from pangolin.

"This is not a bioweapon. Nobody made this virus in a laboratory. This is a product of nature," Garry said.