The outbreak of deadly coronavirus in China has triggered several conspiracy theories being circulated on social media across the world. One such theory that has been circulating in the Chinese social media for weeks is that the US could be behind the COVID-19 outbreak in the country. However, the conspiracy theory Thursday got an official boost with Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, claiming that the US Army could be behind the spread of Coronavirus in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
Zhao said that "it might be the US army" that brought the coronavirus to China. As per the conspiracy, 300 US military athletes had in October last year visited Wuhan, where the pandemic first broke out, to attend the 7th Military World Games. It posits that the US athletes were infected with the coronavirus, thus, spreading it in China.
Zhao made his comments on Twitter along with a video from a US congressional hearing on the country's response to the coronavirus outbreak. In the video, Robert Redfield, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is heard saying that some people, who were previously diagnosed to have died from the flu were later found to have died from the coronavirus.
The Chinese official posed several questions and demanded an explanation from Washington. "CDC was caught on the spot. When did patient zero begin in US? How many people are infected? What are the names of the hospitals? It might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe us an explanation!" he wrote.
Were the lung pneumonia cases in the US actually symptoms of coronavirus?
He was called out on Twitter, a social media platform banned in China, for spreading conspiracy theories. Zhao, however, shared a news report from Global Research to support his claim that the COVID-19 virus originated in the US and not in China.
"This article is very much important to each and every one of us. Please read and retweet it," wrote Zhao. The article titled "COVID-19: Further Evidence that the Virus Originated in the US" claims that the US had a flurry of lung pneumonia cases in August 2019. While the Americans blamed on 'vaping', those deaths were likely because of the coronavirus.
"Taiwanese physician noted that in August of 2019 the US had a flurry of lung pneumonia cases or similar, which the Americans blamed on 'vaping' from e-cigarettes, but which, according to the scientist, the symptoms and conditions could not be explained by e-cigarettes. He said he wrote to the US officials telling them he suspected those deaths were likely due to the coronavirus," the article shared by the Chinese official read.
While there is no concrete information about the origin of the COVID-19 virus, experts believe it spread to humans from bats or snakes being sold at an animal market in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Another conspiracy theory suggests that the virus could actually be a bioweapon being developed by the Chinese and it accidentally released in Wuhan.
