Considering the short time it took Covid-19 to become a worldwide pandemic, it’s no surprise that many people are trying to grasp the new reality of things.

Whenever a disaster occurs, people tend not to think logically as they search for anyone or anything to blame.

Unfortunately, this leads to the most inane ideas that are little more than glorified conspiracy theories.

One of the most persistent conspiracy theories circulating today revolves around how Covid-19 is likely a biological weapon engineered by some nefarious force.

Scientific consensus shows that this possibility is highly unlikely and as Science Magazine put it, scientists “overwhelmingly conclude that this Coronavirus originated in wildlife.”

The mutations found in the virus are bizarre and unseen before

People have a bad habit of underestimating just how complex natural creation can be.

Analysis of the virus called SARS-CoV-2 has found that it shares 96% of its DNA with a strain of Coronavirus found in Bats.

More noticeably, the mutations found in the virus are so bizarre and unseen before that it is beyond the realm of possibility that anyone could manufacture it.

Another study points out that the chances of SARS-CoV-2 being made in a laboratory is non-existent as it has many similarities to existing Coronaviruses, just with additional mutations.

Certain conspiracy theorists have also suggested that Covid-19 is a bio-weapon meant to kill people.

Quite comically, these theorists don’t necessarily agree on who deployed this supposed bio-weapon against whom.

Targets and perpetrators include the usual suspects – the Americans, the Chinese, the Russians and of course, the long-suffering victim of conspiracy theories, the Jews.

The current death rate of SARS-CoV-2 is at 2%, and estimates state that the average number of people a Covid-19 patient could infect is two and a half. For a supposed bio-weapon, it is not very good at doing its job.

A particularly prevalent idea among conspiracy theorists in the West is that China created Covid-19 as a bio-weapon to destroy Western economies.

If that is indeed the case, why on earth would the Chinese government set it off within their own borders, kill thousands of their own citizens and damage their own economy?

The idea that Covid-19 is a bio-weapon still strongly persists

The idea that Covid-19 is simply a natural phenomenon like other historical pandemics must appear boring to many people, because the idea that Covid-19 is a bio-weapon still strongly persists.

While the first cluster of viruses is believed to have originated from a Wuhan wet market, two nearby laboratories ended up being the focal point of a sensationalist piece by British tabloid the Daily Mail.

Coincidentally, the Daily Mail also circulated a video of a Chinese woman eating a bat, which the tabloid immediately sensationalised as well.

Nothing was mentioned about the video being filmed back in 2016 or that the Bat is part of normal cuisine on the Pacific island of Palau.

In another conspiracy theory, the Coronavirus supposedly came from Canada, of all places.

A conspiracy theory blog called Zero Hedge accused a Chinese scientist specialised in Bats of creating the Coronavirus and released the unfortunate man’s personal details.

Zero Hedge’s Twitter account was subsequently suspended permanently for this blatant act of privacy invasion.

No evidence was provided by Zero Hedge about the scientist’s alleged creation of the virus.

But why Canada? Back in July 2019, Dr Xiangguo Qiu, a virologist, was removed from working at Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory for breaching company policy.

Conspiracy theorists quickly jumped on this, claiming that Dr Xiangguo was a spy and her husband specialised in Coronavirus research.

Again, no evidence has been provided to back up these claims.

Other strange conspiracy theories suggest that Covid-19, is caused by a variety of things, including 5G technology, Bat soup, atheism and human sin.

5G technology, Bat soup, atheism and human sin have all been blamed for Covid-19

As though this misinformation is not bad enough, many unscrupulous people have taken advantage to make money out of desperate people searching for a cure.

Quacks and charlatans have been pushing a variety of supposed cures, some of which they charge money for.

In the United States, certain groups have been pushing colloidal silver and Miracle Mineral Supplement as cures for Covid-19.

The former has no known medical effects other than causing your skin to turn blue, and the latter is a diluted chlorine dioxide bleach.

With so much desperation out there, it is indeed rather unpalatable to acknowledge just how low people can stoop to spread misinformation.

Ultimately, all that you can do is to be skeptical with any ludicrous claim you hear and to listen to what actual experts have to say.

As Jonathan Swift put it, “Falsehood flies, and the truth comes limping after it.”