Moscow, Feb. 20, 2020 A group of 27 scientists from nine countries have strongly condemned rumours and conspiracy theories stipulating that the novel coronavirus outbreak was triggered artificially.
The scientists are from the U.S., the UK, Germany and the Netherlands.
“We stand together to strongly condemn the conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 (coronavirus) does not have a natural origin.
“Scientists from multiple countries have published and analysed genomes of the causative agent, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).
“They overwhelmingly conclude that this coronavirus originated in wildlife, as have so many other emerging pathogens,’’ a statement read, as quoted by The Lancet medical journal.
The scientists added that the U.S. National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine also agreed with the conclusion that this coronavirus was of natural origin and that these conspiracy theories only undermined global efforts to fight the epidemic.
To date, COVID-19, which was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late December, has killed more than 2,100 people.
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases has crossed 75,000 worldwide.
