COVID-19 stopped the world in 2020, and the public was introduced to a new normal when people returned to work and schools opened. The pandemic also sparked various conspiracy theories, some outrageous. You can find some of them below.

1. COVID Was Created As Biological Weapon

Nearly three-in-10 Americans believe that COVID-19 was made in a lab, either on purpose or by accident, according to Pew Research. However, the former is more widely accepted. About 23% of respondents think it was created on purpose, whereas only 6% think it happened by chance.

On the American political right, there is a particularly widespread belief that Chinese people somehow manufactured the virus. Sen. Tom Cotton, who promoted claims first reported in the Washington Examiner, helped it get widespread attention.

However, according to genetic sequencing, the SARS-CoV-2 virus was shown to have natural origins as a zoonotic virus that started in bats. Since then, the Examiner has updated the original article to acknowledge that the story is likely untrue.

2. U.S. Military Imported COVID Into China

In response to the anti-China conspiracy theories, the Chinese government developed a conspiracy theory of its own that aims to place the blame squarely back on the U.S. The initial propagation of this theory was carried out by Zhao Lijian, the spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry on X, formerly Twitter.

"It might be U.S. army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data! U.S. owe us an explanation!" he tweeted.

Zhao made his remarks a day after U.S. Robert O'Brien, the national security adviser, claimed that the first cover-up of the virus in China "cost the world community two months" and made the pandemic more widespread.

Another spokesperson for MOFA, Geng Shuang, responded to O'Brien's assertion, calling it a "smear on the Chinese government and its people. It is immortal, irresponsible and of little help to the U.S.'s own fight against the outbreak."

3. COVID-19 Doesn't Exist

Prominent conspiracy theorists like David Icke and Alex Jones of InfoWars argue that COVID-19 is not an actual sickness but rather a plot by the globalist elite to limit our freedoms. There were several early, weaker variants of this hypothesis circulated by the political right, arguing that the novel coronavirus would be "no worse than flu." More recent variations of this argument fueling anti-lockdown demonstrations in several U.S. states. Since believers are less and less inclined to adhere to social distancing norms, they may have a direct role in the epidemic's spread and the ensuing increase in the death rate in their communities.

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4. Big Pharma is Behind COVID

Conspiracy theorists believe that big pharmaceutical companies are behind the spread of COVID-19 and that people like Bill Gates or Dr Fauci are acting on their behalf. In between tirades against frauds and the New World Order, Alex Jones implores his audience to purchase pricey miracle pills, which he says have the power to heal every known illness.

Quack physician Dr. Mercola, who has been banned from Google for spreading false information, is known for his anti-vax and anti-GMO statements. He also says that vitamins and a host of other goods he sells will prevent or cure COVID. Another conspiracy website, NaturalNews, offers various supplements, infusions, and survival supplies. These conspiracy theorists rely on spreading the myth that evidence-based or conventional medicine is ineffective and that large pharmaceutical companies are behind this conspiracy to distribute illness to make money. Conspiracies involving Big Pharma are a common element in anti-vaccination stories, so it is not unexpected that they have evolved into the coronavirus era.

5. COVID-Related Deaths Are Inflated

The notion that lockout laws and other social distancing practices are unnecessary since COVID death rates are being exaggerated is another far-right meme. Dr. Annie Bukacek has been instrumental in spreading this myth; her speech alerting people to the manipulation of COVID death certificates has been viewed over a quarter of a million times on YouTube.

She is, it turns out, a far-right anti-abortion and anti-vaccine activist who was previously known for carrying miniature plastic babies into the Montana state assembly. Of course, there is no truth to her contention that COVID-19 death rates are inflated.

RELATED ARTICLE: Conspiracy Theories, Rumors, and Fake News Killed More than 800 People During the Pandemic, Study

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