News: Scientists ‘strongly condemn’ rumors and conspiracy theories about origin of coronavirus outbreak

A group of 27 prominent public health scientists from outside China is pushing back against a steady stream of stories and even a scientific paper suggesting a laboratory in Wuhan, China, may be the origin of the outbreak of COVID-19.

“The rapid, open, and transparent sharing of data on this outbreak is now being threatened by rumours and misinformation around its origins,” the scientists, from nine countries, write in a statement published online by The Lancet yesterday.

The letter does not criticize any specific assertions about the origin of the outbreak, but many posts on social media have singled out the Wuhan Institute of Virology for intense scrutiny because it has a laboratory at the highest security level—biosafety level 4—and its researchers study coronaviruses from bats, including the one that is closest to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

Speculations have included the possibility that the virus was bioengineered in the lab or that a lab worker was infected while handling a bat and then transmitted the disease to others outside the lab. Researchers from the institute have insisted there is no link between the outbreak and their laboratory.

“We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin,” says The Lancet statement, which praises the work of Chinese health professionals as “remarkable” and encourages others to sign on as well.

U.S. Senator Tom Cotton (R–AR) added fuel to controversial assertions on Fox News earlier this month when he noted that the lab was “a few miles away” from a seafood market that had a large cluster of some of the first cases detected. “We don’t have evidence that this disease originated there but because of China’s duplicity and dishonesty from the beginning, we need to at least ask the question to see what the evidence says,” Cotton said, noting that the Chinese government initially turned down the U.S. government’s offer to send scientists to the country to help clarify questions about the outbreak.

The authors of The Lancet statement note that scientists from several countries who have studied SARS-CoV-2 “overwhelmingly conclude that this coronavirus originated in wildlife,” just like many other viruses that have recently emerged in humans. “Conspiracy theories do nothing but create fear, rumours, and prejudice that jeopardise our global collaboration in the fight against this virus,” the statement says.

Peter Daszak, president of the EcoHealth Alliance and a cosignatory of the statement, has collaborated with researchers at the Wuhan institute who study bat coronaviruses. “We’re in the midst of the social media misinformation age, and these rumors and conspiracy theories have real consequences, including threats of violence that have occurred to our colleagues in China,” Daszak, a disease ecologist, told ScienceInsider.

“We have a choice whether to stand up and support colleagues who are being attacked and threatened daily by conspiracy theorists or to just turn a blind eye. I’m really proud that people from nine countries are able to rapidly come to their defense and show solidarity with people who are, after all, dealing with horrific conditions in an outbreak.”

Also, CEO, African Travel Market, Mr. Ikechi Uko on his face book post wrote on how China is moving to the next phase of using soft power to change the coronavirus narrative after the country successful contained the disease.

The post on facebook reads:
CoronaVirus. China is Trying to Change the Narrative alleges Al Jazeera Listening Post 15/3/2020
China has Contained the Virus so it has gone to the next Phase. Use Soft Power to regain Reputation by Offering help to other Countries.
Then change the Narrative and Blame another Country as the Source of the Virus. This is while the West is busy with its own Crisis.

According to the Al Jazeera anchor the Chinese initially admitted that it started from Wuhan but now They are saying China uncovered the disease in Wuhan but it Originated somewhere else. It was also claimed that China did not build any Hospital in 10 days but a warehouse to Quarantine People.

Remember how they discovered HIV/AIDS in San Francisco California but later claimed it Originated from Africa. The Wuhan Disease Story is following same Pathway.

China sent out Ambassadors who have held over 400 Media interviews with that message.

The programme alleges that Chinese Sources released information that American Soldiers who came for a Sports event left a Bio Weapon behind. That story went Viral and More are expected.

If you notice some.media outlets in America are changing the name from Covid19 back to Wuhan Disease. China claims that Wall Street Journal and German Der Spiegel tried to damage the China brand with Titles like “Made in China” and “Real Sick Man of Asia”. Every Story on The Virus in the West had a Chinese man in Mask to go with it.
With a global cost approaching $1 Trillion dollars China does not want to carry the Stigma and Burden so the need to change the Narrative.

Eventually the Scientists will take over from the Diplomats and they will conclude it is neither China not America but a Pangolin from Africa that brought the Disease to China. A new name will appear. The Pangolin Virus will eventually be tracked to a stream in Congo and rebranded.

We have all seen this Script before. They have Started. The West is on a back foot now so China will press home it’s PR Machinery.
For Africa lets chase this disease Out of Africa first before we bother about them.

Let us do everything possible to kick this disease Out of Africa. We do not need it and we do not accept it. By fire by Force it must go.
Stay Safe. Wash your Hands and Sanitise your Environs. 2020 Is the year for Intra Africa Travel.