During the height of the worldwide infection caused by the virus known as SARS-CoV2, which resulted in widespread lockdowns, meltdowns, quarantines, and death, people accepted the simple explanation that the origin of the virus was due to its transmission from bats to human beings.
Reports said the transmission was made possible because somebody ate a bat somewhere in an exotic market in Wuhan, China and after ingesting it, introduced the virus in its system. The virus liked what it saw and adapted inside the human body as its host.
Looking back, the explanation is as fantastic as it is comical. Yet, it was plausible and everyone believed it until conspiracy theorists came out with another version. These speculators assert the virus was genetically manufactured and modified inside a laboratory and is intended to be used as a biological weapon.
Leaders from several countries backed the theory with President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil going on record to say that the coronavirus is some sort of a germ warfare for economic control. He was, of course, berated and censured.
The theory that the coronavirus is the product of genetic engineering is a sensitive matter. It is a universal issue that may affect the rapport of nations with one another to continuously allege it may lead to dire results.
China, for instance, does not want to deal with the source of the virus because in doing so, it puts itself in a direct line of fire. The mere association of the virus with China stirs up passions and encourages hatred. The hate crimes committed in America and other European countries against Asians in general and Chinese in particular, were generated by the seeming innocent aliases like “Wuhan virus” and “kung flu” given to the coronavirus. To talk about the source of the virus is to court disaster. But the truth must be known.
In the world news section of the May 31 issue of the Philippine Star, it featured an article titled “Study claims Chinese scientists created virus in lab.”
In the article, the writer, who failed to identify himself, avers: “Amid the calls for a fresh probe into the origins of the Covid-19, an explosive study has found that Chinese scientists created the virus in a lab in Wuhan, then they tried to cover their tracks by reverse engineering versions of the virus to make it look like it evolved naturally from bats.”
The writer adds: “The new research claimed that Chinese scientists took a natural coronavirus backbone found in a cave where bats live and spliced it into a new spike, turning it into a deadly and highly transmittable virus. Researchers found unique fingerprints in Covid-19 samples that they said could only come from manipulation in a laboratory. The study alleged deliberate destruction, concealment or contamination of data at Chinese labs and noted the disappearance of scientists in China who spoke out about the activities.”
To say that the foregoing article is an interesting exposé is an understatement. It is explosive. If it is true, it conjures an apocalyptic situation where one nation is acting like the horsemen, prophesied in the Bible. It is playing god by tampering with the lives of millions. It is frightening and at the same time revolting. To what end? Only the virus knows.
We thrive on conspiracy theories and the one that transmutes the coronavirus is the mother of it all. Those who are implicated in it must give definite answers and those who are affected by it must expect the result.
This is the only way we can satisfy our curiosity and free ourselves from the pain and suffering that afflicted our lives for much of last year and all of this year.
April 25, 2024
