OUTSIDE the over 3,000 patients worldwide who have died from COVID-19, this lethal plague continues to wreak havoc in ways that have upset global stability, promoted the collapse of stock exchanges, and caused the death of high-profile luminaries.
To the credit of Filipino medical practitioners, COVID-19 has yet to claim the life of a Filipino, even as one Pinoy patient, designated as a person under investigation (PUI) died in February but tested negative of the virus.
Among its prominent casualties were an unnamed Chinese film director and Iranian luminary Mohammad Mirmohammadi, adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran’s vice president, Masoumeh Ebtekar, was also infected.
The most unsettling news since the COVID-19 outbreak is the report that the disease was an aftermath of negligent handling of bacteria intended for bio-warfare. Curiously, China’s National Bio-safety Laboratory, the only one in that country, is found in Wuhan City in Hubei province where the virus was first reported. The lab, in fact, is inside the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Given this fact, there is now a prevailing sentiment, even from established medical groups, that the disease could have been conveniently blamed on wild animals at the Hunan marketplace, to divert focus from the failure of scientists to property contain the virus in the lab.
Many people are not believers in occults, but there is a suggestion that the spread of the disease to people with no association with Wuhan may be explained only beyond the understanding of medical science, such as curse and witchcraft.
Washington, meanwhile, came out with a statement saying that current US tests, especially in Seattle where six deaths were reported, should provide a clear picture that the spread of the virus had already started before it became obvious.
Virulent and transmissible, COVID-19 has been hitting elderlies and US authorities are scared stiff of it. If not contained soon effectively, it can create havoc in elderly nursing homes. Since the virus thrives in cool environment, suppressing it has doubly become a huge challenge.
Currently, there is an alarming rise of COVID-19 cases outside China, particularly in South Korea, Italy, Iran, and now the US. Even Africa has registered its first casualty. While the struggle to fight the infection stays, financial experts predict a global economic recession or slowdown.
Today the question remains: Is COVID-19 a curse, disease, or bio-warfare escapee?
