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What are the conspiracy theories around COVID-19?
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The US and Israel created coronavirus to attack foreign nations

These governments developed the virus together to leverage their positions against both China and the Middle East.
Biological Weapons China Conspiracy Coronavirus Misleading War
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Context

(ALERT: Visit the WHO for accurate information about the coronavirus pandemic)[1] The Chinese government is pushing this conspiracy theory.[2]

The Argument

Official representatives of the Chinese government have accused coronavirus of coming from the US government, being used as a bioweapon.[3] A spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry tweeted saying that coronavirus might be in China because of the US military.[4] One step further, Iran have accused the US and Israel of jointly creating the disease, in order to target Iranians.[5]

Counter arguments

"Scientists from multiple countries have published and analysed genomes of the causative agent, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), and they overwhelmingly conclude that this coronavirus originated in wildlife, as have so many other emerging pathogens."[6]

Premises

Rejecting the premises

References

  1. https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019
  2. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/12/conspiracy-theory-that-coronavirus-originated-in-us-gaining-traction-in-china
  3. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/13/world/asia/coronavirus-china-conspiracy-theory.html
  4. https://qz.com/1817736/china-fuels-coronavirus-conspiracy-theory-blaming-us-army/
  5. https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/03/19/iran-irgc-coronavirus-propaganda-blames-america-israel/
  6. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30418-9/fulltext
This page was last edited on Monday, 26 Oct 2020 at 13:10 UTC

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