Fact check: Coronavirus a 'weapon of mass destruction'? Bogus theory gains momentum

A write-up with the title "Corona Virus - Weapons of Mass Destruction - Build Biolab Military Laboratory - level 4" is going viral on social media and is suspicious in almost every way.

Coronavirus COVID-19 is quickly spreading across the world and fake theories about the deadly virus are not far behind. One such theory is about how the virus might be a "weapon of mass destruction" created in a "Biolab Military Laboratory".

A write-up with the title "Corona Virus - Weapons of Mass Destruction - Build Biolab Military Laboratory - level 4" is going viral on social media and is suspicious in almost every way beginning with the fact that it doesn't carry a proper source or author name.

The write-up also gives credit to a now-withdrawn research paper by researchers from academic institutions in New Delhi, India that claimed that there are similarities between the new coronavirus and HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Titled "Uncanny similarity of unique inserts in the 2019-nCoV spike protein to HIV-1 gp120 and Gag" the paper was published on 'bioRxiv' and experts were quick to point out that the work was not vetted by peer reviewers and therefore it can not be cited as a source of speculations.

The paper was almost immediately withdrawn and bioRxiv now carries a disclaimer on every paper related to coronavirus COVID-19 or 2019-nCoV that says, "these (papers on 2019-nCoV) are preliminary reports that have not been peer-reviewed. They should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or be reported in news media as established information."

The write-up also gives credit to "documents" published by some journalists and those "documents" were also not found on any renowned journals or media platforms. There is no shred of proof that points to coronavirus being a man-made "weapon" and readers are encouraged not to pay heed to information from questionable sources.

But the viral message also gets some things right, towards the end it says, "the risk is higher for people with heart disease, pollen, and six, and for people whose age is high. The risk of death from coronavirus is 2%, meaning that if one hundred people get the virus, two people will die." Some studies including one that analyzes 44,000 cases from China suggests that elderly people and people with pre-existing medical conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure or heart or breathing problems are at higher risk.

And while working out the death rate is not an easy task as the outbreak is still growing and the risk of death also varies from region to region, some government officials including UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock have said British government's "very best assessment" was that the mortality rate was "2% or, likely, lower".