Leading researchers from the UK have recently debunked rumors that the new coronavirus was made in a laboratory.
Since the start of the coronavirus outbreak, conspiracy theories have emerged saying the virus was a bioweapon from China, with some claiming it was made in a laboratory setting.
Various folks including politicians in the US have accused the Chinese government of orchestrating the pandemic.
A tweet from Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton on January 31 echoed the sentiment of others as he mentioned China's level-four super laboratory which is known to work on some of the world's most fatal pathogens.
An opinion piece published on the New York Post on February 22 alleges Chinese President Xi Jin Ping was aware of the devastating swaths of coronavirus that escaped China's bioresearch labs.
The author furthers claims the Chinese government dispatched an expert in biological warfare to the lab, which is also located in Wuhan, to contain the virus.
The author ended the piece by sharing what he claims is a little-known fact: Laboratory animals that were used in experiments were often sold to street vendors in the markets.
Scientists who allegedly sold the animals to the market often made wads of cash. A researcher, he claims, was once arrested and is serving time in jail for making a million dollars selling his monkeys and rats in the live market.
Also read : Coronavirus Origin Theory: Chinese Official Supports Claim That Virus Originated from U.S.
Kristian Andersen, a researcher and author of the paper published in Nature Medicine, said studies conducted on the virus' genetic data found no signs of any previously used virus backbone.
Their findings determine that COVID-19 originated through a natural process, debunking earlier claims from Russian state media.
BSL-4 facilities are not unusual. In fact, there other BSL-4 facilities in countries such as the U.S. where labs can be found in Atlanta, Georgia, Frederick, Maryland, Galveston, Texas, Hamilton, Montana, and San Antonio, Texas. These lab studies and houses a wide range of dangerous pathogens.
Seven other labs may be constructed in cities such as Massachusetts and Virginia, according to a government website.
COVID-19 spread worldwide
The new coronavirus has caused widespread fear and panic across multiple nations. Countries are now scrambling to contain and slow the spread of the virus which has now infected more than 245,900 individuals, killing 10,048, and disrupting the systems of 181 countries.
Italy has fast become the new epicenter of the virus after it reported 3,405 deaths, surpassing that of China's death toll.
China, meanwhile, has reported no new case -a sign that it may have flattened the devastating curve of the global pandemic.
With Italy and the United States battling through the contagion, many Asian countries have successfully won against the pandemic and are now fighting to keep the foreign virus from coming inside their borders.
Asian countries have imposed strict travel bans from Europe and the United States. Many establishments have also been forced to close in a bid to fully eradicate the virus. Chinese health officials are now turning their eyes to the rest of the world in hopes of completely defeating the global health threat COVID-19.
