Hypothesis of Covid-19 Origin being “man-made” is False

In today’s Medium article, I’ll be discussing why the hypothesis of COVID-19 origins being “man-made” or a lab leak is false. I will be using empirical evidence to prove why this is false. So without further ado let’s get into the article.

➡️ The claims

• Lab leak

So the first hypothesis that we will be discussing is the lab leak, that the virus was supposedly leaked from the Wuhan Virology lab in China, a declassified file [1] with this quote “We continue to have no indication that the WIV’s pre-pandemic research holdings included SARSCoV-2 or a close progenitor, nor any direct evidence that a specific research-related incident occurred involving WIV personnel before the pandemic that could have caused the COVID pandemic.” — this indicates that the WIV personnel in China was no directly involved in making, creating or starting the pandemic.

Furthermore, there is evidence within this declassified file that the virus was not lab-altered, genetically engineered or developed as a biological weapon. As can be seen from this quote: “Almost all IC agencies assess that SARS-CoV-2 was not genetically engineered. Most agencies assess that SARS-CoV-2 was not laboratory-adapted; some are unable to make a determination. All IC agencies assess that SARS-CoV-2 was not developed as a biological weapon.”

A feature article published in the BMJ science journal [2], explains in more depth why these claims are false and other claims do not prove that the virus was a lab leak. All of these theories came to light at the start of the pandemic and were further spearheaded during the Trump administration [3] where they gained considerable momentum.

References: [1] https://www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/Report-on-Potential-Links-Between-the-Wuhan-Institute-of-Virology-and-the-Origins-of-COVID-19-20230623.pdf
[2] https://www.bmj.com/content/382/bmj.p1556
[3] www.nytimes.com/2020/04/30/us/politics/trump-administration-intelligence-coronavirus-china.html

• Man-made

The last claim which is easy to debunk, is the claim that Covid-19 is supposedly “man-made”. A medical hypothesis study published in the Journal of Medicine & Life [1] journal had this quote which completely rules out the man-made theory and bio-weapons conspiracy theory: “In conclusion, all these specific features observed in SARS-COV-2 helps scientists to rule out the idea that this pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus is the result of a man-made action that could be either engineered in the laboratory or further created as a bioweapon out of conspiracy”.

Peter Hotez a prominent MD has stated on Twitter [2] that “the virology community presents overwhelming evidence for natural origins”, this is further supported by a study published in the Science journal [3] which points to the strongest evidence possible that the Huanan Seafood market was the COVID-19 origin epicentre.

A genetic analysis [4] has estimated the time when not just one but two zoonotic spillover pathways occurred. Additionally, the molecular epidemiological research study calculated that the coronavirus jumped into people once in late November or early December and then again a few weeks later. This coincided at the same when the huge COVID-19 outbreak occurred within the market.

Reference: [1] https://medandlife.org/wp-content/uploads/20.-jml-2020-0175.pdf
[2] https://twitter.com/PeterHotez/status/1629911623971250179
[3] https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abp8715
[4] https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abp8337

➡️ Other evidence disproving these theories

One study published in the Cell science journal [1] sheds some interesting light on the evolutionary origins of SARS-CoV-2, one highlight stated that “Four novel SARS-CoV-2-related viruses were identified in rhinolophid bats”, the study looked at a poll of data of 411 bat samples collected in Yunnan province, China between 2019 and 2020 yields 24 full-length coronavirus genomes, including four viruses highly related to SARS-CoV-2 and three to SARS.

A study posted to CDC Weekly [2] gave us one of the first looks at the new pathogen at the time and a first look at the molecular characteristics of this emerging pathogen. This study stated that all current evidence at that time pointed to the Food Market too.

A perspective study posted in the PNAS [3] journal stated the following: “the increasing scientific evidence concerning the origins of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is most consistent with a zoonotic origin and a spillover pathway from wildlife to people via wildlife farming and the wildlife trade.” — this adds extra weight to the virus being zoonotic in origin.

A quote from an abstract posted to AEPress [4] for Acta Virologica Vol 64 in 2020 stated the following: “Further analyses suggested that SARS-CoV-2 is of zoonotic origin. The analysis of the SARS-CoV-2 genome, especially the S gene, shows that natural evolutionary process between a bat-CoV and a pangolin-CoV or other animal coronavirus could have been important in creating SARS-CoV-2, with transmission of novel virus to the human population.”

References: [1] https://www.cell.com/cell/pdf/S0092-8674(21)00709-1.pdf
[2] https://weekly.chinacdc.cn/en/article/id/a3907201-f64f-4154-a19e-4253b453d10c
[3] https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2202871119
[4] http://www.elis.sk/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=6826&category_id=163&option=com_virtuemart&vmcchk=1&Itemid=1

➡️ Conclusion
The overwhelming evidence points to the viruses' origins being zoonotic.

💥 Thanks for reading, Lawrence. Please consider a small contribution, in the form of a beer as all articles are created in my small amount of spare time: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/LawrenceRob