For a few days, a video aired in November 2015 by Tgr Leonardo, a news and documentary dedicated to science produced by Rai, has been circulating on social media, especially Italian ones. In the video, it is claimed that Chinese scientists are studying a virus that causes pulmonary disease by studying rats and bats at night.
"A group of Chinese researchers," said Tgr Leonardo, "grafted a surface protein obtained from a nocturnal nude with a rat-derived Sars virus virus" "to see what impact it might have on humans."
The video is being interpreted as a possible test that the Sars-Cov-2 virus, which causes Covid-19, was produced in laboratories by Chinese scientists. According to this hypothesis, China has conceived Sars-Cov-2 as a biological weapon and is the cause of the current pandemic.
In the midst of this pandemic, the virus has actually taken a political approach as well. Donald Trump has always referred to the "Chinese virus", which has been seen as an attempt to accuse China, while in China on the other hand in some cases the virus is seen as American-made. Former Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini posted the video on social media, writing that "the coronavirus was produced in a Chinese laboratory".
What makes the documentary dubious is the fact that mice from the prestigious health authorities have not been cited as causing Covid-19. In some cases it was said that it could be the causative pangolins, but it was denied. Night bats are a possibility, but the origins of coronavirus are still being studied.
However, the scientific community strongly denies such an opinion and points out that Sars-Cov-2 was not created in the laboratory. All international medical groups share the same opinion.
Italy's most famous virologist, Roberto Burioni, said that "it makes no sense for news of the coronavirus to go to a laboratory experiment." "Don't worry, it's 100% natural unfortunately," he wrote on Twitter.
Source: Corriere della Sera
