With 83, 726 infected and 2,859 dead already in more than 48 countries across the World, the Coronavirus or COVID 19 as doctors and scientists call it, is the most dangerous pandemic since the black death swept across Europe in the middle ages.
The world, at least Europe was taken by surprise when the Coronavirus slowly became a pandemic.
For African countries that have had experiences of containing pandemics however, we all watched with horror as the disease spread across China, Iran and Italy pretty much unchecked in its early stages.
As the disease quickly spread across China with thousands infected and hundreds dead, conspiracy theories started to grow regarding the origin of this Coronavirus/COVID 19.
Having had a narrow escape with the Ebola Virus pandemic, my home country Nigeria quickly swung into “Ebola” mode as adequate preventive measures including quarantine services were quickly set up.
Most people were however dismayed to realise that the response of most European countries as well as the United States to the COVID 19 virus was sluggish and haphazard leading many to believe that the virus was indeed introduced to destroy the Chinese Economy given the ongoing trade war between China and the United States.
As the virus quickly spread across Italy, France, Britain and the United States however, this theory became child’s play compared to the myriad of theories that have made their way onto mainstream media from the streets.Some of these shocking theories include;
The Coronavirus Was Predicted in a Novel
It didn’t take long for the virus to become an epidemic in China before conspiracy theorists unearthed a novel that apparently predicted the creation of the Coronavirus in a lab in Wuhan.
The 1981 novel, ‘The Eyes of Darkness’ by Dean Koontz paints an eerie picture of the Coronavirus outbreak within some of its pages.
The plot revolves around a mother trying to find out what really happened to her son who had been declared dead for a year.
It turned out however that the boy was alive and was being held in Wuhan China, specifically in a lab where the deadly virus was produced and spread from.
A character from the novel narrates that the virus (Wuhan 400) was developed at an RDNA lab just outside the Chinese city of Wuhan.
The character also revealed that the virus was the 400th strain of man-made organisms developed at the centre.
The intricate details with which the novel describes the effects of the Virus in the human body certainly piqued people’s interest as most people became certain that the novel indeed Predicted the outbreak of the Coronavirus.
The Coronavirus is a Bio-Weapon
One of the most shocking theories about the virus is the fact that it is actually a Bio-Weapon.
An ET Prime report, claimed that some Chinese scientists sabotaged the National Microbiology Lab of Canada.
This lab supposedly contains some of the most deadly pathogens in the world and the Chinese scientists were accused of causing a policy breach in this facility.
This so called ‘policy breach’ allegedly became the bedrock of Bio-Weapon programmes of China.
According to the creator of the Bio Weapons Act, Francis Boyle, the Coronavirus is an offensive biological weapons of war with DNA engineering.
As rife as these claims are however, none of them have been substantiated.
The Virus Originated From The Chinese Seafood Market
When the Virus broke out in China, speculations were rife that the Coronavirus started from the Chinese Seafood Market.
At the time, the speculation was fuelled by reports from Chinese health authorities as well as the World Health Organisation that most cases of the virus had links to the Seafood Market.
When the market was closed on January 1, the internet became awash with videos of Chinese citizens eating love frogs, fish and other exotic land and sea animals which most people now blamed for the Virus.
The Simpsons of course have not been left out of the Coronavirus conspiracy theories.
In fact, it became really popular after a February 20 Facebook post showed still pictures of the Simpsons allegedly from a 1993 Episode of the show.
In one of the pictures, Homer Simpson and Principal Skinner are sick while in another, a broadcaster was reading off a piece of paper while a cat alongside the words ‘corona virus’ is on the screen behind.
It turned out however that the pictures were fake.
It was discovered that three of the pictures were from an episode called ‘Osaka Flu’ in which a worker coughing into Homer’s package got him sick.
The image behind the broadcaster was also altered from the words ‘apocalypse meow’.
While some of the conspiracy theories above may seem pretty wild, the threat of the Coronavirus pandemic is very real.
Always ensure to maintain proper environmental and personal hygiene and don’t forget to always wash your hands with soap and running water.
If you don’t have access to running water, a sanitizer comes in very handy. Also try to keep your hands away from your mouth, nose and eyes.