A History of Corona Virus & Conspiracies

According to officially released statistics, about 400,000 have so far been affected globally with over 20,000 dead. There are rumours that China is suppressing real numbers which may run into millions. But even if we stick to official figures it goes without saying that the Corona virus, rather its 2019 edition called COVID-19, has hit the world like a typhoon on steroids, sending several economies thrashing around in the swirling currents of death and disease, lockdowns and shutdowns. Confused experts and confounded laypersons are tossing around amid buffeting whirlpools of half-truths and outright lies, rumours and facts, perceptions and reality. 

What started off as a local spate of viral infection in China’s industrial town of Wuhan, soon turned into a raging pandemic that has engulfed the entire world barring Antarctica. The epicentre of this pandemic has shifted from China to Europe, especially Italy. India too is becoming increasingly vulnerable to the spread of this virus and the reasons are not far to seek. The country was obviously ill prepared to screen and isolate the infected persons coming in from abroad. Even now, the resources are rather thinly spread over various international airports. Many passengers, including some celebrities, escaped the screening and later mixed with unsuspecting persons in buses, trains, parties and other functions. Although the government is now going all out to stamp out the virus, we need to keep our fingers crossed and hope India will manage to block the spread of COVID-19 by flattening it at the second stage itself.

Our news channels have discarded juicy political debates in favour of tracking the spread of COVID-19. They are providing ample airtime to relevant information on precautions and available medical help for keeping the virus at bay. Of course, as is their habit, certain newsrooms have set aside time for the usual finger pointing and acrimony. We have some comic relief from the familiar quarters suggesting  that cow urine, sitting in the sun, ringing bells in temples or mere clapping of hands can win the war against Corona. But the toll mounts.

There is another stream of media outlets that is seriously speculating on the conspiracies hatched to destroy the West. They point out that, along with steel, auto and hi-tech industries Wuhan has pharmaceutical and sophisticated biological warfare research labs. They allege that this mutant strain must have escaped from one of these research labs. There are others who feel that China deliberately let loose this virus to destroy Western powers. Conversely, there are insinuations of USA and UK joining hands to destroy China’s economy by smuggling the virus from their labs into Wuhan. 

There is nothing new about conspiracy theories popping up when an epidemic suddenly hits a region. Way back in the fourteenth century when Black Death also known as Bubonic Plague killed more than 75 million people in Europe. There were dark rumours of rulers in India having joined hands to destroy Europe which was fast emerging as the global power. Then there were Christian conspiracy theorists who honestly believed that Jews were out to wipe out Christianity from the face of the earth by poisoning Europe’s water sources with plague germs! So, one could choose their favourite scapegoats between Indians and Jews – no matter how nonsensical these theories may appear now.

Ebola virus conspiracy theory is considered credible by many even in the West. Originally, the virus was thought to have come from fruit-bats in Africa. Corona too is believed to have originated from a specie of bats in China. Since, bats cannot defend themselves, one can pile any accusation on them.

There have been press reports of Ebola virus having infected a worker in a Canadian laboratory that was experimenting on pigs for developing a biological warfare weapon system. One can only guess how this particular strain reached Africa, mutated and spread there killing thousands. Similarly, there were strong but unsubstantiated rumours of AIDS being developed by labs run by USA and UK as a bio-war weapon. That many countries have been developing bio-weapons is a fact. But whether these periodical outbreaks of virus-driven epidemics and pandemics are offshoots of such experimentation has not been proved yet. But there are strong arguments suggesting human conspiracy in developing these viruses. For example, how come the viruses that affected only birds and animals until late 20^th century suddenly began mutating and causing deadly epidemics from the late 20^th century onwards? Bird flu, swine flue etc are the cases in point.

Weaponizing of viruses goes back in time by several centuries when North American colonists conducted brutal warfare against native Americans also known as Red Indians. Mass slaughters had become common then. 19^th Century historian Francis Parkman and others like him discovered how blankets and linen infected with smallpox were given to the trusting Red Indian tribes, causing not just disfiguring scars and blindness but deaths on a large scale. Entire villages were wiped out. Perhaps, this crude biological warfare was the precursor of what the world is facing today.

Whatever the truth behind these stories and theories, it is a fact that experiments with various strains of deadly viruses are going on in advanced countries. One mistake and the world gets hit with lethal pandemics. Are these experiments worth it? Whether we like it or not the world has already become a closely knit global village. If the powerful keep experimenting with weapons of doom, all humanity faces extinction.

 None will survive.

Think it over.

YOUTUBE