According with the World Health Organization (WHO) coronaviruses (CoV) are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV). The novel coronavirus (nCoV), as a new strain that has not been previously identified in humans, causes coronavirus disease COVID-19.

Coronaviruses are zoonotic. This means that they are transmitted between animals and people. Past investigations found that SARS-CoV was transmitted from civet cats to humans, while MERS-CoV from dromedary camels to humans.

Overall, more than 25 different species of coronaviruses are known, and they have been divided into four genera (alpha, beta, gamma, and delta) characterized by different antigenic cross-reactivity and genetic makeup. Only the alpha and beta coronavirus genera include strains pathogenic to humans.

The first known coronavirus, the avian infectious bronchitis virus, was isolated in 1937 and was the cause of devastating infections in chicken. The first human coronavirus was isolated from the nasal cavity and propagated on human ciliated embryonic trachea cells in vitro by Tyrrell and Bynoe in 1965. However, coronaviruses have been present in humans for at least 500-800 years, and all originated in bats.

In November 2002, clusters of pneumonia of unknown cause were reported in Guangdong province, China (now known as SARS-CoV). The number of cases of SARS increased substantially in the next year in China and later spread globally, infecting at least 8,096 people and causing 774 deaths (10% mortality). The outbreak of MERS-CoV at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on June 2012, infected at least 2,494 people and caused 858 deaths (37% mortality).

Common signs of infection include respiratory symptoms, fever, cough, shortness of breath, and breathing difficulties. In more severe cases, infection can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure, and even death. People can catch COVID-19 from others who have the virus, and the disease can spread from person to person through small droplets from the nose or mouth which are spread when a person with COVID-19 coughs or exhales, even on objects and surfaces, where other people put their hands on afterwards.

Due to the above transmission process, people as employees and consumers must follow a series of protection measures. These include washing hands with an alcohol-based hand rub or with soap and clean water, maintaining at least one meter distance to anyone who is coughing or sneezing, and making sure that people around follow good respiratory hygiene, while they must stay at home if they feel unwell, at a self-isolation level.

Finally, possible vaccines and some specific drug treatments are under investigation and they are being tested through clinical trials. However, to date, there is no vaccine and no specific antiviral medicine to prevent or treat COVID-2019.

COVID-19 history, transmission, and conspiracy theories

On December 31, 2019, the World Health Organization was alerted to several cases of pneumonia in Wuhan, China. The virus did not match any other known virus. On January 7, 2020, China confirmed COVID-19. The virus that causes COVID-19 and the one that causes SARS are related to each other genetically (75%-80% similarity in genetic sequence), but they are different. SARS is more deadly but much less infectious than COVID-19. The latter has an incubation period range from one up to 14 days, and it persists on surfaces for a few hours or up to several days.

This situation drives the spread of many conspiracy theories. Some people blame Chinese eating habits for the outbreak. Reports say that the new coronavirus is believed to have emerged from illegally traded wildlife (such as bats) at the Hunan Seafood Market in Wuhan.

However, several patent documents started to circulate on social media, sites, and blogs, suggesting that experts have been aware of the virus for years. For instance, a 2015 (July 23) patent filed by the Pirbright Institute in Surrey, England, talks about developing a weakened version of coronavirus for potential use as a vaccine to treat and/or prevent a disease.

To “treat” means to administer the vaccine to a subject having an existing disease in order to lessen, reduce, or improve at least one symptom associated with the disease and/or to slow down, reduce, or block the progression of the disease. To “prevent” means to administer the vaccine to a subject who has not yet contracted the disease and/or who is not showing any symptoms of the disease to prevent or impair the cause of the disease (e.g. infection) or to reduce or prevent development of at least one symptom associated with the disease.

The inventors of the above patent (date of patent: November 20, 2018) claimed that the case of avian infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) has been reported to be responsible for more economic loss to the poultry industry than any other infectious disease. Thus, there is a need in the industry to develop vaccines, in order to improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of vaccination programme.

Another example is that of August 12, 2019, when researchers from the Walter Reed Army Institute for Research (Maryland, United States) and GeneOne Life Science (Seoul, Republic of Korea), a biopharmaceutical R&D company dedicated to the development and contract manufacturing of Gene-based-Biomedicines, including DNA vaccines, presented results from a phase I study of the respiratory syndrome MERS coronavirus DNA vaccine. At the time of data analysis, 75 healthy adult volunteers (aged 18 to 50 years) were enrolled in the open-label, single arm, dose-escalation, phase I study, designed to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity of MERS coronavirus DNA vaccine in healthy adults. Overall, 73 of 75 participants (97%) reported health problems, with the most common systemic symptoms being headache and malaise or fatigue.

China, Iran, United States, and biological weapons

Additionally, other viral conspiracies suggest the virus was part of China’s “covert biological weapons programme” and may have leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the only laboratory in China capable of working with deadly viruses.

Scientists from Israel said that the Virology Institute is the only declared site in China known as P4 for pathogen level 4. This status indicates that the institute uses the strictest safety standards to prevent the spread of the most dangerous and exotic microbes being studied, including the Ebola virus.

Wuhan has two laboratories linked to Chinese bio-warfare program, and one of them is about 20 miles from the Hunan Seafood Market, where reports from China say may have been the origin point of the virus.

An official report by the United States on August 2019, replied to Chinese programme, as it indicates that China is engaged “in biological activities with potential dual-use applications, which raises concerns regarding its compliance with the BWC (biological weapons convention),”, adding that the United States suspects China failed to eliminate its biological warfare program as required by the treaty. Note that, United States assesses China possessed an offensive biological warfare programme from the early 1950s to at least the late 1980s.

Another claim links the virus to the suspension of a researcher at Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory (Winnipeg, Canada). Virologist Dr Xiangguo Qiu, her husband, and some of her students from China were removed from the lab following a possible “policy breach,” according to a report by Canada’s national broadcaster CBC last year, while other reports said Dr Qiu had visited the Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences twice a year for two years.

CBC News on July 14, 2019, reported that Xiangguo Qiu, a Chinese-educated doctor who is head of the Vaccine Development and Antiviral Therapies section in the Special Pathogens Program at the lab, was escorted out of the National Microbiology Lab (NML) in Winnipeg earlier this month amid the investigation.

Over the above, Canada’s national police force said on July 15, 2019, it is investigating a referral by the country’s Public Health Agency over “possible policy breaches” at its National Microbiology Lab, whose work includes research on the most dangerous human and animal pathogens, such as Ebola. Also, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) said it advised the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) of the “possible policy breaches” on May 24, 2019. The RCMP and PHAC have said repeatedly there is no threat to public safety.

Whether they are part of a spy team made by China, as biological welfare agents, Dr Xiangguo Qiu is a scientist with extensive experience and academic work on viruses, mainly on Ebola virus, human diseases, virus infection, identification, and development, and virus treatments, including structures of protective antibodies.

Furthermore, it is essential to mention that population genetic analyses of 103 SARS-CoV-2 genomes indicated that these viruses evolved into two major types (designated L and S), that are well defined by two different SNPs (single-nucleotide polymorphism) that show nearly complete linkage across the viral strains sequenced to date. Although the L type (∼70%) is more prevalent than the S type (∼30%), the S type was found to be the ancestral version. Whereas the L type was more prevalent in the early stages of the outbreak in Wuhan, the frequency of the L type decreased after early January 2020.

Thus, scientists may could be capable to create a weakened version of the coronavirus, decreasing its mortality rate from 30%-40% to around 3%-4%. This could be the very first large scale implementation of a biological weapon based on virus spread. Recent events have shown us again how rapidly a new disease can take root and spread at a global level, so it could be part of a general test, over bioweapons utility. However, due to virus evolution schemes, no one can secure her or his health status, even on a fully protective environment, and this is a vital point to consider.

The Huawei case, and the financial war between China and US

Additionally, it is critical to remember the case of the Chinese company Huawei. Its former chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, daughter of its CEO and founder, Ren Zhengfei, was held in late 2018 in Canada on suspicion of fraud and breaching United States sanctions on Iran.

At this point it should be noted that there are conspiracies claiming that virus outbreak is a plot to destabilize Iran, according with a recent article on The Guardian. It also includes a statement made from President Rouhani of Iran, who reports the virus as “one of the enemy’s plots to bring our country into closure by spreading panic”.

The Trump administration banned US companies from doing any trading with Huawei after it accused the Chinese giant of espionage and IP (intellectual property) theft. The ban centered on any technology related to 5G technology (a critical technology for worldwide automation). Huawei is one of the biggest tech companies in the world, recording revenues that exceed 120 billion dollars, and it employs nearly 200,000 people.

On May 16, 2019, the US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security announced that Huawei was added to the “entity list”, which signifies that US companies are barred from doing business with Huawei unless they get explicit permission from the US government.

President Donald Trump indicated in an exchange with reporters that “Huawei is something that’s very dangerous. You look at what they’ve done from a security standpoint, from a military standpoint, it’s very dangerous”.

Conclusion

Panic is the most dangerous disease during a virus outbreak, particularly a coronavirus. Can we change something, as individuals, employees, consumers? Yes, we can adhere with organizational policies, react to unethical practices, have a vision of a brighter and fair future, and be persistent to moral activities and as rational as possible. Hygiene is the number one factor of living, while conspiracy theories could be helpful, but not the core of our logic and thinking. Do not be vulnerable to these theories and mass manipulation; still be alerted to evidence and official reports.