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Has SARS-CoV-2 been subjected to in vitro manipulation? We present three lines of evidence to support our contention that laboratory manipulation is part of the history of SARS-CoV-2 :

i. The genomic sequence of SARS-CoV-2 is suspiciously similar to that of a bat coronavirus discovered by military lab oratories in the Third Military Medical University (Chongqing, China) and the Research Institute for Medicine of Nanjing Command (Nanjing, China) .

ii. The receptor - binding motif (RBM) within the Spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, which determines the host specificity of the virus, resembles that of SARS - CoV from the 2003 epidemic in a suspicious manner . Genomic evidence suggests that the RBM has been genetically manipulated.

iii. SARS-CoV-2 contains a unique furin - cleavage site in its Spike protein, which is known to greatly enhance viral infectivity and cell tropism . Yet, this cleavage site is completely absent in this particular class of coronaviruses found in nature . In addition, rare codons associated with this additional sequence suggest the strong possibility that this furin - cleavage site is not the product of natural evolution and could have been inserted into the SARS-CoV-2 genome artificially by techniques other than simple se rial passage or multi - strain recombination events inside co-infected tissue cultures or animals.