The coronavirus (COVID-19) has shaken the world. According to a recent study, scientists are predicting that 70 to 80 percent of all countries in the world will be infected by the coronavirus. Since the coronavirus is a relatively new virus and there is not much information available about it yet, scientists are promptly trying to research and learn more about it.
One such study has claimed that the coronavirus has an HIV-like mutation, which makes the virus more effective as it can bond with human cells more easily. Some scientists in the scientific community had expressed their concerns about the coronavirus being genetically-engineered.
According to the latest research from Nankai University, COVID-19 has a similar mutation to HIV through which the virus enters the human body by binding with the cell membranes. The findings of this research shows that this strain of the coronavirus is different from the SARS coronavirus as it has similarities to the HIV virus. It must be noted here that even though the scientists from Nankai University have not clearly stated that the coronavirus is man-made, but the odds of finding random mutations similar to HIV are very low.
But according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the new coronavirus was transferred to humans from bats. The virus first emerged from a Chinese meat market in Wuhan. Surprisingly, this market was in close proximity to China’s only level-4 bioweapons lab (BSL-4 lab). This lab is responsible for researching various deadly viruses including Ebola. Many people have called for a thorough investigation into the lab and its role in the coronavirus epidemic. Chinese officials have denied any link between the Wuhan BSL-4 lab and the coronavirus outbreak.
Follow-up research conducted by Huazhong University in Wuhan has verified the findings of the research by Nankai University. A study from France has also confirmed that this virus is very different from previous strains. It has furin-like cleavage sites, which makes the binding of the virus with human cells more effective.
After studying all of the latest researches about COVID-19, a proper conclusion about the source of the coronavirus can still not be drawn. Many scientists have negated the notion that the coronavirus is man-made. According to them, the advance mutations in the coronavirus that originated from Wuhan are found in many other viruses along with the HIV-virus. Therefore, there is no substantial evidence of the coronavirus being a man-made.
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