DISINFO: Coronavirus is an ethnic biological weapon

DISINFORMATION CASE DETAILS

DISINFO: Coronavirus is an ethnic biological weapon

SUMMARY

Coronavirus is an ethnic biological weapon used by countries against a hostile population. The Chinese Coronavirus strain is “artificially created”, and the pharmaceutical companies are behind it, and it is historically known that the United States of America ran a laboratory in Georgia, where it was testing biological weapons on humans.

RESPONSE

Conspiracy theory about the 2019-nCoV coronavirus, based on recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about the biological weapons and the Lugar Lab in Georgia. The current coronavirus (2019-nCoV) comes from a family of viruses 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 with new cases being reported in the Asia-Pacific region as well as Europe, North America and the Middle East, causing more than 700 deaths by 10 February 2020. The identity of the animal source of the coronavirus, named nCoV-2019, has been one of the key questions for the researchers. Coronaviruses are known to circulate in mammals and birds, and scientists have already suggested that nCoV-2019 originally came from bats. One of the previous coronaviruses that caused severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, spread from bats to civet cats to humans. The South China Agricultural University in Guangzhou says that two of its researchers have identified the pangolin as the potential source of nCoV-2019. This was announced to reporters at a press conference on 7 February 2020. Read similar disinformation cases: the US prepares biological weapons, the US is constructing secret biological labs, and a new Chinese coronavirus was likely elaborated in NATO Biolabs.

Disclaimer

Cases in the EUvsDisinfo database focus on messages in the international information space that are identified as providing a partial, distorted, or false depiction of reality and spread key pro-Kremlin messages. This does not necessarily imply, however, that a given outlet is linked to the Kremlin or editorially pro-Kremlin, or that it has intentionally sought to disinform. EUvsDisinfo publications do not represent an official EU position, as the information and opinions expressed are based on media reporting and analysis of the East Stratcom Task Force.

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