Scientists have concluded that coronavirus is the product of natural evolution and not deliberate genetic engineering
Several conspiracy theories have been floating around claiming the virus could be a leaked biological weapon

A new study suggests that the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) that emerged from China's Wuhan city is a product of natural evolution. The study was published in the journal -- Nature Medicine. The analysis of public genome sequence data from SARS-CoV-2 and related viruses found no evidence that the virus was made in a laboratory or otherwise engineered.

"By comparing the available genome sequence data for known coronavirus strains, we can firmly determine that SARS-CoV-2 originated through natural processes," said the lead researcher Kristian Andersen.

In addition to Andersen, authors on the paper, "The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2," include Robert F. Garry of Tulane University, Edward Holmes, of the University of Sydney, Andrew Rambaut of University of Edinburgh and W. Ian Lipkin of Columbia University.

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that can cause illnesses ranging widely in severity.

The first known severe illness caused by a coronavirus emerged with the 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic in China. A second outbreak of severe illness began in 2012 in Saudi Arabia with the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).

On December 31 last year, Chinese authorities alerted the World Health Organisation (WHO) of an outbreak of a novel strain of coronavirus causing severe illness, which was subsequently named SARS-CoV-2.

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