JAPANESE NOBLE LAUREATE TASUKU HONJO REFUTES CHINA MANUFACTURES CORONAVIRUS.

JAPANESE NOBLE LAUREATE TASUKU HONJO REFUTES CHINA MANUFACTURES CORONAVIRUS.

BY PRINCESS EIGBOKHAN ORIH

Recently news making the rounds  on social media states a Japanese Nobel laureate allegedly said the coronavirus is not natural however a biological weapon manufactured by  China. 

According to Crowdtangle this alleged claim  has been posted in over 400 Facebook groups and pages. The different posts with the claim have been shared over 10,000 times as of May 1, 2020. 

Professor Tasuko Honjo has refuted the alleged quote, describing the claim as “false accusations and misinformation to destroy his name in the wake of the pain, economic loss, and unprecedented global suffering caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The alleged  post, which is also shared in multiple languages including Portuguese , Italian , French  and Spanish quotes Tasuko Honjo as allegedly says: "If covid 19 was natural, it would not have affected the entire world. Because, as per nature, temperature is different in different countries. With 40 years of research on animals and viruses. It is not natural. However manufactured and the virus is completely artificial. The statement also says Professor Tasuko Honjo worked fourbyears in the Wuhan laboratory in China. And he is  fully acquainted with all the staff of that laboratory.

According to the alleged statement  Professor Tasuko Honjo also  phone all the staff , after the Coronavirus surfaced. But all their phones are dead for the last 3 months. It is now understood that all these lab technicians have died. Based on Professor Tasuko Honjo knowledge and research till date, he can say this with 100% confidence. That the Coronavirus is not natural. It did not come from bats. China manufactured it. It also says if  what Professor Tasuko Honjo is  saying today is proved false now or even after my death, the government can withdraw his  Nobel Prize. China is lying and this truth will one day be revealed to everyone."

Reuters says they found no evidence of any similar statement made by professor Honjo amidst the coronavirus outbreak. On April 10, 2020, the Japanese media outlet Nikkei Asian Review published an interview in which Honjo said coronavirus “originated” in China, but he did not state it had been manufactured.

The claim also misleadingly says Honjo worked in a “Wuhan laboratory in China”. According to his professional trajectory visible here , he has only worked in Japan and the United States. Since 1984, Honjo has been working at Kyoto University as a professor and currently as Deputy Director-General at the Institute for Advanced Study.