BBC：The virus wasn't created in a lab

A video published by the Epoch Times, that contains claims that the coronavirus was created in a laboratory, has been marked false on Facebook where it has been watched almost 70 million times.

The opening feels like a slick and dramatic Netflix documentary - there's a flash and crack of a lightning bolt followed by ominous music.

The hour-long video includes a theory about a lab in Wuhan creating the virus and leaking it, due to poor security.

The BBC's science editor, Paul Rincon, says "there's currently no evidence that any research institute in Wuhan was the source of Sars-CoV-2" (which causes Covid-19).

Scientific analysis of the evidence shows the virus came from animals, and was not man-made.

A peer-reviewed study in March found no evidence the coronavirus had been engineered, stating that "it is improbable that SARS-CoV-2 emerged through laboratory manipulation."

The video also refers to a study from Indian researchers that claimed to find four new sequences had been inserted into the new coronavirus, which were also present in HIV, to suggest the virus is man-made.

But that paper, never peer-reviewed, was withdrawn by its authors. And the genetic information that had matched is common in many other organisms.

"Those sequences are so short that they match with many different organisms, not just HIV. It doesn't mean they're related," says Dr Jeremy Rossman, a virologist at the University of Kent.

Epoch Times, based in New York City, was started by Chinese-Americans affiliated with a religious group called Falun Gong.

The site spent heavily on pro-Donald Trump Facebook adverts last year, reported NBC News.

But in August Facebook banned it from taking out more ads for violating its policies.