There is a patent for the new coronavirus.
The article cites a 2015 patent document filed by the Pirbright Institute, a UK-based research institute that studies infectious diseases affecting farm animals, and suggests that the current coronavirus outbreak was created as a distraction., The article further claims that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation financially supported the development of the said vaccine., However, while Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has funded some of the projects undertaken by Pirbright Institute before, a statement by the Pirbright Institute confirmed in a statement that the Foundation did not fund the patented research of coronavirus., A conspiracy theory citing the same patent document was also shared on Twitter, attempting to link the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to the coronavirus patent application, and the foundation’s work promoting vaccination campaigns around the world., However, the patent document cited in the conspiracy theory and referenced in the Soko Directory article does not refer to the new strain of coronavirus affecting humans, but rather the development of a vaccine against Avian infectious bronchitis virus (IBV)., A statement from the institute indicates that the 2015 patent is for an attenuated (weakened) version of the virus that is less pathogenic, meaning that it would be less likely to cause the disease, and therefore protect any fowls inoculated with it from future infection. IBV affects poultry of all ages and is responsible for more economic loss to the poultry industry than any other infectious disease according to the patent document for the vaccine., Additionally, preliminary scientific studies have not linked the virus’s genetic sequence to birds but to either snakes or mammals., The outbreak of the 2019-nCoV coronavirus has since been declared by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a public health emergency., PesaCheck has looked into the claim that the new Coronavirus was invented as a vaccine and is part of a human depopulation conspiracy and finds it to be FALSE., This post is part of an ongoing series of PesaCheck fact-checks examining content marked as potential misinformation on Facebook and other social media platforms., By partnering with Facebook and similar social media platforms, third-party fact-checking organisations like PesaCheck are helping to sort fact from fiction. We do this by giving the public deeper insight and context to posts they see in their social media feeds., Have you spotted what you think is fake news or false information on Facebook? Here’s how you can report. And, here’s more information on PesaCheck’s methodology for fact-checking questionable content., This fact-check was written by PesaCheck Fact-Checker Simon Muli and edited by PesaCheck Deputy Editor Ann Ngengere with research input from Mercy Karagi, The article was approved for publication by PesaCheck Managing Editor Eric Mugendi., PesaCheck is East Africa’s first public finance fact-checking initiative. It was co-founded by Catherine Gicheru and Justin Arenstein, and is being incubated by the continent’s largest civic technology and data journalism accelerator: Code for Africa. It seeks to help the public separate fact from fiction in public pronouncements about the numbers that shape our world, with a special emphasis on pronouncements about public finances that shape government’s delivery of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) public services, such as healthcare, rural development and access to water / sanitation. PesaCheck also tests the accuracy of media reportage. To find out more about the project, visit pesacheck.org., PesaCheck is a joint initiative of Code for Africa, through its innovateAFRICA fund, with additional funding support from the International Budget Partnership (Kenya) and Twaweza, in partnership with a coalition of local media organisations, and the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ)., Written by, Written by
FALSE: There is no patent for the 2019-nCoV Coronavirus