On March 16, an online edition Progressnews released an article headlined “Coronavirus was created artificially and it represents a bioweapon – Indian scientists.” The article notes that researchers from India’s Jawaharlal Nehru University released a study, according to which COVID-19 contained HIV “insertions” and showed signs of being created in a lab. Since it is the new virus, according to Progressnews, Indian scientists concluded that the United States created COVID-19 to strike an economic blow against China. Progressnews refers to Russian-language media outlet cont.ws as its source.
The study conducted by Indian researchers claiming coronavirus is a bioweapon was based on groundless conspiracy theories and false findings. There is no evidence that the novel coronavirus was bioengineered and genetic observations indicate that it came from an animal. Since the paper lacked substantiation, the authors soon voluntarily withdrew it.
Factcheck.org has verified the information about the study. The paper by Indian scientists, which was posted on the website bioRxiv on January 31, claimed to have identified very short “insertions” in the virus’ protein sequence that had an “uncanny similarity” to HIV. Numerous scientists, however, almost immediately pointed out flaws in the analysis, noting that the sequences are so short, they match a bevy of other organisms and there is no reason to conclude they derive from HIV. Foreign Affairs also writes about groundless conspiracy theories and false findings that were not confirmed by the study conducted in India.
Besides the fact that COVID-19 contained no HIV “insertions,” genetic observations have not revealed any human interference. There is no evidence to suggest that the virus is bioengineered. On the contrary, genetic observations indicated that the novel coronavirus came from an animal.
The paper was voluntarily withdrawn by its authors just two days later, with one saying, “It was not our intention to feed into the conspiracy theories and no such claims are made here.” But the speedy withdrawal was not fast enough to prevent some websites from picking up the story. Zero Hedge, a conspiratorial website, released fake news about creating coronavirus as a bioweapon; later, Russian media spread the same news citing Zero Hedge as its source.
About Zero Hedge
Zero Hedge is an English-language financial markets website. Until 2016, Zero Hedge in-house content was posted under the pseudonym “Tyler Durden,” the lead character in Fight Club. In 2016, Bloomberg unmasked the men behind Zero Hedge – Colin Lokey, Tim Backshall and Daniel Ivandjiiski, Bulgaria-born, U.S.-based former investment banker. The articles released by Zero Hedge are known for supporting Russian and Syrian Presidents, Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad, respectively. The website frequently spreads unverified reports and conspiracy theories. Twitter has banned Zero Hedge from the social media platform after it published an article containing a conspiracy theory about coronavirus.
