DISINFO: Coronavirus could have originated from Latvia
SUMMARY
Latvia, which has enough talented biologists and pharmacists, could have created the coronavirus. Covid-19 can be used as a pretext to limit people’s freedom, so they couldn’t organize protests, and as an opportunity to justify an economic recession.
RESPONSE
No evidence given. This is another unfounded pro-Kremlin conspiracy theory about the coronavirus. COVID-19 is not a biological weapon and there is no proof that it would have been artificially created. This coronavirus comes from a family of viruses, originating in animals, that include other viruses such as SARS and MERS. It was first reported in the Chinese city of Wuhan in central China and has been rapidly spreading across the world, with cases being reported in 150 countries, territories and areas by 16th of March 2020. See related pro-Kremlin disinformation cases about the coronavirus outbreak, alleging that governments overestimate the threat, that it was born in a laboratory to infect Chinese, that it is an element of hybrid warfare and that the remedy has been developed in Ukraine.