The virus has killed more than 900 people in China.
Frederick, Md (KM) Could the coronavirus have been bio-engineered by China?
That’s a possibility, according to Peter Hussey, the President of Geo-Strategic Analysts, which advocates for a foreign policy based on geographic factors.
“The only, number-one bio-weapons laboratory is in Wuhan province,” he says. “We know historically in the past, they have messed around with stuff like this. In fact, a number of years ago, got caught.”
Wuhan province is where the coronavirus was first detected.
Hussey, who was a recent guest on WFMD’s “Success Happens,” says “we do know they have been working on various things like SARS virus to come up with vaccines, and there’s suspicions they’ve been looking at bio-weapons which would be illegal.”
SARS stands for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, which affected China in 2002–2003.
As of Monday, there have been 40,171 cases of the coronavirus reported in China, with 187,518 individuals under medical observation, according to a report from the BBC, which also says 908 people have died.
On Sunday alone, 97 people died from the coronavirus, the highest daily death toll since the outbreak began, according to The Washington Post.
There are currently more than 135 people who tested positive on a cruise ship, the Diamond Princess, which is being quarantined in Japan.
Hussey says medical experts have said this virus is unlike any other which occurs in nature.
“There are certain parts of this virus that, when you look at the doctors and specialists, who say this does not look like a natural thing,” he says.
But scientists also says viruses, such as the flu, mutate. They spread among animals, and then make a transition to humans.
So far, there have been only 12 cases of coronavirus reported in the United States, according to a BBC report.
Hussey says that number could go up.
“The problem, as I see, we have 400,000 Chinese students in America. Many of them went home for the Chinese New Year. They came back to America before the New Year was over, and before this outbreak was announced,” he says.
Hussey continued, saying those students could be carrying the corona virus.
“Our universities like Yale and Harvard have said ‘we don’t want to stigmatize our Chinese students. They’re coming class,'” he says. “We don’t know how many came early because they’re a two-week incubation period before things show up.”
He says the United States has set up good quarantine system which examines those coming into the country from areas affected by the coronavirus, and there is space on military installations where those who suspected of having the virus can stay until the infection has ended.
New Chinese research has found the virus can be transmitted by saliva, urine and stool, as well as respiratory droplets.
The United Kingdom says new measures have been put in place allowing mandatory quarantine for those affected by the coronavirus which has been declared a “serious and imminent health threat” by British officials.
By Kevin McManu