I am a layman in this field and rely on the experts in their field and a few I know personally say it is more than likely a naturally mutated virus found in bats and jumped to humans. You go ahead and insert your laymen's perspectives if it makes you feel good, you be you. I will rather be informed and get my information from reliable sources.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Final perspectives
Many hypotheses on the original source of SARS-COV-2 and COVID-19 have been made, which still lack concrete evidence that supports their statement. Among them, the theory involving recombination, convergence, and adaptation of SARS-COV-2 have been put in the limelight, suggesting a possibility in the evolutionary pathway for SARS-COV-2 [
22]. Most scientific reports believe that the polybasic cleavage site and mutation of the spike proteins are the mechanisms behind the adaptation of this beta coronavirus group of SARS-COV-2 to humans [
14]. The alterations in the receptor-binding domain of the surface protein (S) of SARS-COV-2 result in its effective binding to human ACE2 receptors, especially in the human respiratory airway, which increases the transmission ability of the virus. Moreover, results of a recent retrospective study conducted in Zhejiang, China, showed one amino acid position loss and four single amino acid mutations in SARS-COV-2 with greater similarity to humans than viruses [
23]. Apart from that, genomic and strong evidence of the similarity between SARS-COV-2, bat-coronavirus, and pangolin-coronavirus at the whole genome level has also been discovered. Alterations of the S1-2 junction of coronavirus, including mutations, insertions and deletions, demonstrates that the generation of polybasic cleavage sites is achieved through a natural evolutionary process [
14].
In conclusion, all these specific features observed in SARS-COV-2 helps scientists to
rule out the idea that this pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus is the result of a man-made action that could be either engineered in the laboratory or further created as a bioweapon out of conspiracy. Recent discoveries revealed evidence of the presence of the virus around the world before it emerged in Asia. There is growing evidence of its true origin as a global organism that was waiting for favorable conditions to emerge instead of originating in China. Recent testing of sewage in Barcelona had suggested that the virus may have been present in the Spanish city in March 2019, many months before China identified the pathogen in the city of Wuhan in December 2019. Based on the results available, it is most probably that this is a natural-born virus that emerged from an animal host, most likely a bat, without any direct pieces of evidence about its intermediate host. Nevertheless, researchers are yet to find a definitive answer to which animal serves as an intermediate host for this virus and disease. Besides, questions on the role of SARS-CoV-2 in T cells have been raised, especially with evidence from recent postmortem findings of its preferential impact on CD 4+ and CD 8+ T cells [
24–
26]. Therefore, further studying of all microorganisms is mandatory in order to understand how they evolve, how they live, and how they transmit, which may be the key solution in hindering the spread of COVID-19.
