The term “coronavirus” does not refer to a single virus, but rather to a family of viruses which, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) (New window), “Can cause a wide variety of diseases in humans, ranging from the common cold to SARS, and which also cause a number of diseases in animals.” The virus currently raging in China is more precisely called “2019-nCoV”.
The first patent, dating from 2003, relates to SARS, severe acute respiratory syndrome, which caused hundreds of deaths worldwide from 2002 to 2003. The SARS virus was also of the “coronavirus” family.
The method detailed in the patent was to use the genetic sequence of the SARS virus to detect the infections it causes. The patent does not therefore mean that the SARS virus was invented in the laboratory. In 2013, the United States Supreme Court rightly prohibited this type of patent on genetic material, (New window) by specifying that this is not an invention, but simply to isolate genes that already exist in nature.
The second patent, submitted in 2015, relates to an attenuated version of another form of coronavirus, responsible for infectious avian bronchitis. This virus attacks poultry (New window), but not to humans. The patent concerns the development of an attenuated version of the existing virus, in order to develop a vaccine for poultry liable to develop this infection.
A follower of the conspiracy movement QAnon claims that there is a patent for the coronavirus. His message has been shared almost 5,000 times.
Photo: Screenshot – Twitter
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No vaccine for current coronavirus
Conspiracy theory that the coronavirus was created in the laboratory also claims that a vaccine already exists, and that it is a conspiracy to enrich pharmaceutical companies.
In reality, there is still no vaccine or cure for the coronavirus currently circulating in China. In an interview with Bloomberg (New window), an official with the National Health Institute (NIH) in the United States said that a vaccine was in development and could be ready by April.
No, Bill Gates did not predict the current pandemic
Another rumor circulating on the Internet claims that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation had predicted the current epidemic and announced that it would kill 65 million people. As evidence, the conspirators evoke a simulation made last October (New window) at the John Hopkins University School of Public Health.
In response to this conspiracy, the institution published a text (New window) explaining the purpose of the exercise carried out in partnership with the World Economic Forum and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It explains that the simulation was not a prediction, but an exercise to prepare for reacting to future pandemics. The virus used in the simulation was fictitious and had different characteristics from the 2019-nCoV coronavirus.
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