A Different Perspective on the COVID-19 Pandemic: Origin of the Outbreak (Part 1)

In December 2019, an outbreak caused by novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) started in Wuhan, China. After extensive speculation about a causative agent, a novel betacoronavirus, in the same family as SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, was identified via next-generation sequencing from samples received from several pneumonia patients. Ribonucleic acid extracted from the patient's bronchoalveolar lavage fluid was used as a template to clone and sequence the genome of SARS-CoV-2. Shortly after, the World Health Organization announced a worldwide pandemic. However, later reports revealed that the COVID-19 pathogen has a genetic footprint that had never been observed in natural coronavirus, suggesting a "gain of function virus" that might have been engineered in a laboratory. Clear conclusions about the outbreak's origins are still lacking. Theories regarding most probable wildlife animal reservoir for the SARS-CoV-2 have been scientifically shaky. Exactly how the virus jumped from wild animals to humans remains a mystery. Ongoing debate coalesces around 2 competing theories: laboratory accidental versus intentional escape scenario of a genetically engineered virus versus zoonotic emergence. Within a year after the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic, Pfizer- BioNTech and Moderna published their 2month duration follow-up mRNA vaccine trial results. Later reports revealed a rapidly declining vaccineinduced immunity, questionable effectiveness of these vaccines against the new variants despite boosting, inability to stop viral transmission, and, most importantly, the onset of serious adverse events. In the 2 context of all these uncertainties, controversies, and the remaining many unanswered questions, this first review presents a different perspective on the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic. A later analysis will address the subsequent events that followed in terms of diagnosis, protective measures, vaccines roll-out and vaccine mandate.