On April 16, 2020, Professor Luc Montagnier, awarded a Nobel Prize in medicine in 2008, hypothesized that the SARS-CoV-2, responsible for Covid-19, was created in the laboratory from the HIV virus ( causing AIDS disease). A controversial statement, like the end of the French scientist's career.
So why is it unlikely? Researcher at the Institut Pasteur, Étienne Simon-Lorière gives the scientific reasons that undermine this theory:
If the theory of creating SARS-CoV-2 from scratch has gained ground, it is partly because it is actually possible to manipulate dangerous viruses in the laboratory. In one of our Factu episodes, we also explained to you why certain laboratories around the world stock strains of viruses with very high lethality potential. Étienne Simon-Lorière explains why access to these deadly strains makes it easier to understand them and therefore to fight them:
