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Science & Technology

Coronavirus was not made in a lab, study finds

By T.K. Randall
March 27, 2020 · Comment icon 61 comments

No, the coronavirus is not a human-made contagion. Image Credit: CC BY 3.0 Urcomunicacion
New research has played down conspiracy theories suggesting that the virus was created in a laboratory.
With COVID-19 infections around the world now exceeding 550,000, more people than ever have been seeking an answer to the question of how the virus came to arise in the first place.

While the official story has always been that it was first contracted through contact with animals at an illegal seafood market in the Chinese city of Wuhan, conspiracy theorists have long played down this explanation, instead favoring the idea that it was actually a man-made creation.

Now however, a new study involving a detailed analysis of all the available evidence has definitively debunked this particular theory and reasserted that the virus did indeed develop naturally.

The key to this lies in the fact that the virus does not share any "previously used virus backbone", meaning that there is nothing to suggest that it is was created in a lab.

Instead, it arose through a recombination of two viruses found in bats and pangolins.
"There's a lot of speculation and conspiracy theories that went to a pretty high level," study co-author Dr. Robert Garry from the Tulane University School of Medicine told ABC News.

"So we felt it was important to get a team together to examine evidence of this new coronavirus to determine what we could about the origin."

While COVID-19 was found to be 96% identical to a coronavirus found in bats, researchers were able to identify a certain variation that may explain why it has been proving so infectious.

"We know from the study of other coronaviruses that they're able to acquire this [variation] and they can then become more pathogenic," said Garry.

"This is a good explanation as to why this virus is so transmittable and has caused this pandemic."

Source: ABC News | Comments (61)




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Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #52 Posted by Setton 4 years ago
Presumably @Socio will be wanting to hold posthumous trials and advocating for the US to make suitable reparations to Japan instead. 
Comment icon #53 Posted by Big Jim 4 years ago
We stuck around after the war and helped to rebuild Japan and their economy.  They're doing fine and we're all friends now.  Let it drop.
Comment icon #54 Posted by Setton 4 years ago
As @Socio seems to have given up his rather stupid drive to punish China for something it hasn't done, gladly. 
Comment icon #55 Posted by aztek 4 years ago
China’s Mobile Carriers Lose 21 Million Users as Virus Bites   China’s wireless carriers are reporting drops in users as the coronavirus crisis cuts business activity, with China Mobile Ltd., the world’s largest carrier, reporting its first net decline since starting to report monthly data in 2000.     China Mobile subions fell by more than 8 million over January and February, data on the company’s website show. China Unicom Hong Kong Ltd. subscribers fell by 7.8 million in the period, while China Telecom Corp. has said it lost 5.6 million users last month. https://www.bloomber... [More]
Comment icon #56 Posted by SpaceBumZaphod 4 years ago
Covid19 started in Wuhan China. Wuhan also has a large infectious disease research center. The Wuhan center of Virology. Coincidence? IMHO, NO. http://english.whiov.cas.cn/
Comment icon #57 Posted by qxcontinuum 4 years ago
Elders have always said the we cant transmit viral viruses to animals or animals back to us. The mutation was likely created or helped but the there was the Spanish flu, to early to have been engineered and more deadly than CoVid
Comment icon #58 Posted by lightly 4 years ago
My wife just reminded me of something Pol Pot ( is that Trump's plump N Korean chump's name? ) said... He told trump he would have "a present for him in Janurary".  . .  I wonder what the H his plumpness meant by that ? ?  ? you can't have a presidential election during a national emergency ....can you?     Just thinking....because I certainly do not trust any powers that BE.
Comment icon #59 Posted by Nnicolette 4 years ago
Uh no why would i go back to that doctor moron..  And it was all of France that raised the alarm... Along with many in our healthcare system. I am a medical tranionist btw jackass. Maybe if your head wasnt stuck so far up your ass you might be aware of whats happening in the world, instead of resorting to infantile behavior as your only means of communication. 
Comment icon #60 Posted by Nnicolette 4 years ago
Of course not a coincidence that they were specifically studying corona virus at the lab right next to where it started. I just cant figure out why arrests were made over it in january but everybody still thinks it is a mystery! https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/harvard-university-professor-and-two-chinese-nationals-charged-three-separate-china-related?fbclid=IwAR1thYGmqFHRG7ak94g3fE2SBYeDNeX3mtJ1LkB97Gvy8U1OjWfoQCY-fc0
Comment icon #61 Posted by Rlyeh 4 years ago
Because you're full of ****, moron.   They said you'd die if you take ibuprofen?   That's amazing, the amount of bs and woo you prattle on about and you work in the medical field.  Even the biggest hypocrites have their price.


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