The COVID-19 pandemic has been caused by a coronavirus named SARS-Co V-2, which emerged in December 2019. Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses, several of which cause respiratory diseases in humans – ranging from a common cold to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
In a major development, a leaked document written by Chinese military scientists and health officials in 2015 has been found to state that SARS coronaviruses were a “new era of genetic weapons“ which could be artificially manipulated into an emerging human disease virus, then weaponised and unleashed, reports Asian News International (ANI) citing Weekend Australian.
The document quoted by the Weekend Australian is titled “The Unnatural Origin of SARS and New Species of Man-Made Viruses as Genetic Bioweapons”. It went on to suggest that World War Three would be fought with biological weapons.
The document revealed that the Chinese military scientists were already discussing the weaponisation of SARS coronaviruses in 2015, much before the pandemic broke out and hit the world.
Peter Jennings, the executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), told news.com.au, “I think this is significant because it clearly shows that Chinese scientists were thinking about military application for different strains of the coronavirus and thinking about how it could be deployed.”
“It begins to firm up the possibility that what we have here is the accidental release of a pathogen for military use,” Jennings added.
He further suggested that the leaked document could be one of the reasons due to which China has been so reluctant for outside investigations into the origins of COVID-19.
“If this was a case of transmission from a wet market it would be in China’s interest to co-operate … we’ve had the opposite of that.”
The development gains much significance as the COVID-19 pandemic has gone on to cause over 3.28 million deaths across the globe, while infecting 157 million more, the tally of which continues to surge. The havoc unleashed by the pandemic has also led to significant damage to the economies across the world.
