Last month, China's official Arabic-language TV station aired a video arguing that the coronavirus pandemic originated outside China – likely in the United States.
In an episode of China View that aired on March 17 on The Official China Global Television Network Arabic Section (CGTN Arabic), a Chinese vlogger "Ms. V" pointed out that the presence of multiple coronavirus strains in the United States, the coincidence of the initial outbreak occurring in Wuhan, China, the location of the 2019 Military World Games, in which the US participated, and the US Centers for Disease Control's shutdown of former US biological weapons research lab Fort Detrick, all suggest that the SARS-CoV-2 virus originated in the United States. She also asserted that many coronavirus deaths in the United States may have been attributed to influenza.
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"Since the outbreak of the new coronavirus in China, some followers have asked me, do you believe the story that the new coronavirus is made by the USA? And every time my answer was: No. I can't believe it – unless there is evidence to prove it. Now there may be some new facts warranting a new interpretation of the source of the new coronavirus," said Ms. V.
While the outbreak was first thought to have begun in "wet markets" in Wuhan, she said, in a new study Chinese researchers reported that transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus actually began outside the market in December, and spread rapidly after reaching it.
"The virus may have been transmitted from a source or other sources to the market, where the rapid spread of transmission began due to the presence of a large number of close contacts within the space," she said, adding that the research also suggested that the virus began spreading after the Wuhan International Military Games ended in October 2019.
"So, it is expected that the 'patient zero' in China came from outside China," she concluded.
She added that The Asahi Corporation of Japan had recently published a report indicating that US coronavirus deaths may be getting misidentified as being caused by influenza. The US government, she said, had "recently recognized this possibility."
"Also, a virologist from Taiwan put forward the hypothesis that the virus originated in the United States, based on the premise that the country with the most strains of the virus is likely the source of the original virus.
"If we consider viruses as one family, the first generation that passed from bats is the serious virus. The new virus developed to be group A and group B, and group B developed group C, and group C developed group D and E," she said. "The viruses currently in China are all from group C, but the viruses in the United States are from all five groups.
However, she admitted, there is no definitive answer from the scientific community as to the source of the pandemic at this time.
"As the new coronavirus spreads around the world, we are looking forward to answers from some governments, and for them to face the public with greater transparency," she said.
Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.
