New Report Debunks COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories
The novel coronavirus is not a “laboratory construct” but the result of natural evolution
Ever since the novel coronavirus began sweeping the globe, misinformation has spread just as quickly. Accusations have been made by politicians in both the United States and China that the COVID-19-causing coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) may have been manufactured in a laboratory. According to the results of a new article published in Nature Medicine, the new coronavirus is not a “laboratory construct or a purposefully manipulated virus” but emerged as a result of natural evolution. This most recent report helps clear up some of the confusion surrounding the origins of the disease.
Earlier this year, a preprint published online on the bioRxiv platform had suggested that the novel coronavirus was lab-created based on “uncanny” similarities between the new virus and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that were “unlikely to be fortuitous in nature.” The scientific community swiftly criticized the methods as rushed (based on a poor understanding of pBLAST) and the findings as coincidental at best. The paper was later retracted, but the damage had already been done.
The coronavirus family includes the virus responsible for the common cold as well as the more deadly viruses…
