COVID-19 isn't a bioweapon: Study debunks conspiracy theories

As the world struggles to contain the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, some people are turning into conspiracy theories to explain the origin of the virus.

One conspiracy theory making the rounds is that the virus was man-made, genetically engineered to be used as a biological weapon.

A letter published in the journal "Nature" debunked this claim based on the findings of a study which looked at the genomic features of the virus.

"Our analyses clearly show that SARS-CoV-2 is not a laboratory construct or a purposefully manipulated virus," read the correspondence dated March 17.

SARS-CoV-2 is the official name of the virus which causes COVID-19.

The study said it is the seventh coronavirus known to infect humans, along with SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, HKU1, NL63, OC43 and 229E. SARS-CoV was identified in 2003 and first infected humans in Guangdong, China, while MERS-CoV was first identified in 2012 in Saudi Arabia.

According to the study, 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, in a video posted on YouTube.

The study offered two hypotheses on the origin of the virus: 1) natural selection in animals before transmission to humans, or 2) natural selection in humans after transmission from animals.

According to Garry, a virologist at the Tulane University School of Medicine, his team believes that the virus most likely came from bats and combined with a virus from another animal, possibly the pangolin.

The virus could have been evolving for a long time in animals or in humans, and at some point had "one little mutation" that "allowed it to spread more rapidly."

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

As of Sunday, March 29, there are 634,835 confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide with 29,957 deaths. --Marisse Panaligan/JST, GMA News