Interesting conspiracies on COVID-19

The WHO address of some unknown pathogen in R & D blueprint: When WHO already added Disease X to its R&D Blueprint in 2018, pointing out the reality of an unknown pathogen that would create a momentous international epidemic was just beyond the limits of the imagination. 2 years later, over 1 million people around the world have been infected with COVID-19 virus and 80 000 people have died from the disease. One-third of the world's population is in lockdown. The world's most advanced economies struggle to meet the demands of the population. Here the question arises for WHO about the measures they have taken to fight with such unknown pathogen which they have mentioned 2 years back. China’s knowledge and technology in studying the corona virus vigorously over the past few years:  A recently published scientific article by Lawrence Sellin ( Retired US Army Colonel) states: “Due to the broad-spectrum of research conducted over almost 20 years on bat SARS-CoV [severe acute respiratory syndrome coronaviruses] justified by their potential to spill over from animal to human, a possible synthetic origin by laboratory engineering of SARS-CoV-2 [COVID-19] is a reasonable hypothesis.” The Chinese government, the media and some scientists are desperately trying to convince the public that COVID-19 is a naturally-occurring disease, which was transmitted from animals to humans in the Wuhan Seafood Market. However If COVID-19 leaked from a laboratory, the political and economic consequences for China are enormous. The argument that COVID-19 is naturally-occurring is based nearly entirely on a single, but widely-cited Nature Medicine article entitled “The Proximal Origin of SAR-CoV-2.” That conclusion stems primarily from a structural analysis comparing COVID-19 with bat and pangolin (scaly anteater) coronaviruses suggesting a natural evolutionary process in which COVID-19 mutated in an animal population and acquired the ability to infect humans. Although COVID-19 bears a striking structural similarity to the bat coronavirus RaTG13, the critical receptor binding domain, which initiates attachment to human cells, is closer to pangolins. It is highly unlikely that the bat RaTG13 coronavirus and the pangolin coronavirus combined naturally through a process called reassortment because it would require simultaneous infection of the two viruses in the same animal cell. It could, however, have been accomplished in a laboratory. As the recently-published scientific article notes, a new “chimeric” or combined RaTG13-pangolin coronavirus strain could have been created through an artificial recombinant event, using well-established bioengineering methods. Another possible indication of genetic manipulation is the presence of a furin polybasic cleavage site in COVID-19 as represented by the PRRA amino acid insertion, which does not exist in any of the bat or pangolin close relatives. Perhaps not coincidentally, the furin polybasic cleavage site in COVID-19 occurs in the precise location known to enhance pathogenicity and transmissibility in viruses. Interestingly, methods for the insertion of a polybasic cleavage site in infectious bronchitis coronavirus have been described by Chinese scientists and that artificial genetic alteration resulted in increased pathogenicity. In parallel, animal models for the addition of structures important to the function of coronaviruses, called O-linked glycans, have been used by Chinese scientists at the Chongqing Military Medical University, as well as animal models to specifically select for the human angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 receptor, the entry step for COVID-19 infection. There is no doubt that China has the knowledge and technology to have created COVID-19. Whether that actually was done is yet to be determined and should be undergoing vigorous scientific investigation. The Chinese Cover-Up: Speculations on the communist government of China trying to ‘cover-up’ the outbreak hiding the official figures were undesirable. The fact that the Chinese Government tried to suppress the attempts of the insiders as well as eight doctors, who tried to warn the public of the pandemic, is rather alarming . While the rumours of the Chinese cover-up are unsubstantiated, one can only think about the popular proverb, ‘there’s no smoke, without fire’. The US military imported COVID into China: The Chinese government responded to the anti-China theories with a conspiracy theory of its own that tries to blame back onto the United States. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, tweeted “it’s possible that the US military brought the virus to Wuhan.” China accused that the US military personnel during their participation in the Military World Games held in Wuhan last October 2019  brought the virus to China. For China, as the Atlantic reported, this conspiracy theory, where China tried to rename COVID the “USA virus,”’ was a transparent “geopolitical ploy” . It was thought to be only useful for domestic propaganda as it was not widely believed internationally. Prediction of Coronavirus in A Novel: This theory is the scariest one because of the fascinating accuracy with which this 1981 book predicts the outbreak and the resemblance between ‘Wuhan-400’ and Coronavirus. Soon after the news of the outbreak broke, several users started pointing out that a passage from the 1981 book ‘The Eyes of Darkness’ by Dean Koontz in a strange manner predicts the Coronavirus outbreak. The photograph of the passage from the book went viral because the resemblance was mysterious and the evidence was hard to dismiss. Going to the background, the plot is based around a mother who attempts to find out what happened to her son after he mysteriously disappeared on a camping trip and finds that the boy is held in China , more specifically in Wuhan , the site of a deadly virus outbreak. The character named Dombey also narrates the origin of a virus called ‘Wuhan-400’ which was developed at the RDNA lab outside the city of Wuhan, and surprisingly explaining that “it was the four-hundredth viable strain of man-made microorganisms which was created at that research centre’.  Can Coronavirus be a Bioweapon? According to an ET Prime report, a group of Chinese scientists in Canada were accused of spying and their access to Canada’s National Microbiology Lab (NML) were also stripped of. It is believed that the NML is known to toil on some of the most deadly pathogens. Bioweapon program of other countries including China were highlighted in the alleged ‘policy breach’. Dr Francis Boyle, the creator of Bio Weapons Act, himself claims that ‘the coronavirus is an offensive biological warfare weapon with DNA-genetic engineering’. But still the claims about coronavirus being a biological weapon are unsubstantiated. The ‘5G’ Connection: COVID-19, is believed to have originated from a wet market in Wuhan, China, in November coinciding when China also turned on some of its 5G networks in November. Rumours gained steam when Keri Hilson, popular American singer, tweeted about the alleged connection between 5G and COVID-19, writing, "People have been trying to warn us about 5G for years and what we're going through is the effect of radiation, highlighting that 5G was launched in CHINA on Nov 1, 2019" Several conspiracy also alleged that the viral videos of people ‘dropping on the ground and fainting’ in China, were a result of 5G radio waves jumbling with the oxygen levels in blood of the general public.But soon, the claims were exposed by a UK based fact checking website and declared that there is ‘no evidence that 5G is harmful to people’s health’. Hence unsubstantiated. Key steps taken by our central and state government : On 30 January, India reported its first case of COVID-19 in Kerala, which rose to three cases by 3 February; all were students who had returned from Wuhan, China. There was no significant rise in cases in the rest of February. The transmission escalated during March, after several cases were reported all over the country, most of which were linked to people with a travel history to affected countries.  On 22 March 2020, India observed a 14-hour voluntary public curfew at the instance of the prime minister Narendra Modi. The government followed it up with lockdowns in 75 districts as well as all major cities. But On 24 March, the prime minister ordered a nationwide lockdown for 21 days followed by extension of  another nationwide lockdown on 14 April which lasted till 3 May. The World Health Organization also hailed "India's tough and timely actions" against the coronavirus spread. WHO’s South East-Asia Regional Director, Dr. Poonam Khetrapal Singh said, “ Despite huge and multiple challenges, India has been demonstrating unwavering commitment in its fight against the pandemic” By 27 April the states of Goa, Sikkim, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Tripura have been declared as "Covid-19 Free" with zero active cases. The reason for these states to be declared as corona free was the result of prompt lockdown. On 1 May, the Government of India extended nationwide lockdown further by two weeks until 17 May. The Government divided the entire nation into three zones – Green Zone, Red Zone, Orange Zone, relaxation were allowed accordingly.  On 5 May, Telangana government announced for extension of lockdown till 29 May in the state. Earlier the state government gave orders for the complete shutdown of educational institutions, coaching centres, malls, cinema halls, bars, pubs, clubs, public meetings, place of worship, seminars and rallies. The state government also cancelled festival celebrations like Ugadi and Sri Rama Navami besides an Islamic event. Confirmed cases crossed 100 on 15 March, 1,000 on 28 March, 5,000 on 7 April, 10,000 on 14 April, 20,000 on 22 April , 30,000 on 29 April and 50,000 by 6 May.  The Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT), in its report based on data from 73 countries, reported that the Indian Government has responded more stringently than other countries in tackling the pandemic. It noted the government's swift action, emergency policy making emergency investment in healthcare, fiscal measures, investment in vaccine research and active response to the situation, and scored India with a "100" for its strictness. Coming to the total number of cases, death and recovered cases that are taken through online sources and presented in a tabular form says it all.  CountriesUSITALYSPAINCHINARUSSIA FRANCEINDIATotal cases1,263,197214,457253,6823,820,689165,929174,19153,025Death74,80729,68425,857265,0941,53725,8091,785Recovered213,10993,245159,3591,303,09721,32753,97215,331Recovery %16.8743.4762.8134.1012.8530.9828.91Death %5.9213.8410.196.930.9214.813.36 The central government introduced the Aarogya Setu mobile application to educate citizens about novel coronavirus and help them make informed decisions amid the crisis. Nearly 20 crore women Jan Dhan account holders received Rs 500 each in their account. Under Ujjawala scheme, the government is providing free LPG refills for the next three months to over 8.3 crore poor women. A small gesture to show gratitude to the front line health workers, police department and sanitizing team by clapping , lightening diyas and showering flowers. India finished conducting 1 million RT-PCR tests this weekend according to ICMR, joining a club of only 10 countries in the world to have crossed that milestone. Out of all these countries, India has the least number of reported cases testing its one millionth sample. Officials also stated that starting with one single laboratory, the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune to having 100 laboratories in the beginning of the lockdown, the RT-PCR test facility is now available in 292 government and 97 private facilities across the country which is to be acknowledged. From the total of 736 districts in India ,only 17 % are in the red zone, i.e., have a high number of active transmissions in last 21 days. There are 38 % in the orange zone, which means cases have been reported but there hasn’t been a considerable increase, and 43 %  are in the green zone, area with no new cases in last 21 days. The doubling rate in India has slowed down i.e. the time in which current number of cases double ⁠,has increased from 3.4 days from before lockdown to 12 days now, which means the infection is spreading more slowly.  Conclusion: Government is making all the efforts to save each and every one of us and in return we shall also help them by following the guidelines given by the government to save ourselves and our people.