DISINFO: COVID-19 is not the product of natural evolution
SUMMARY
The genome of the virus has been decoded in China and in Russia. According to these researches, the virus does not have a natural evolution.
RESPONSE
A recurring disinformation narrative on coronavirus presented with no evidence to support the claim that the coronavirus was artificially created. The novel SARS-CoV-2 that has since caused a large scale COVID-19 epidemic is the product of natural evolution. The analysis of public genome sequence data from SARS-CoV-2 and related viruses found no evidence that the virus was made in a laboratory or otherwise engineered. The corresponding results of the analysis were published in the journal Nature Medicine. “By comparing the available genome sequence data for known coronavirus strains, we can firmly determine that SARS-CoV-2 originated through natural processes,” said Kristian Andersen, PhD, an associate professor of immunology and microbiology at Scripps Research and corresponding author on the paper. COVID-19 comes from a family of viruses originating in animals that include other viruses such as SARS and MERS. It was first reported in the Chinese city of Wuhan in central China and has been rapidly spreading across the world. More information about myths related to coronavirus can be found here.