Implications of Haplotype Switching for the Origin and Global Spread of COVID-19

When analysed in patients at epicentres of outbreaks over the first three months of the 2020 pandemic, the virus responsible for COVID-19 cannot be classed as a rapidly mutating virus. It employs a haplotype-switching strategy most likely driven by APOBEC and ADAR cytosine and adenosine deamination events (C>U, A>I) at key selected sites in the ~ 30, 000 nt positive sense single-stranded RNA genome (Steele and Lindley 2020). Quite early on (China, through Jan 2020) the main haplotype was L with a minor proportion of the S haplotype. By the time of the explosive outbreaks in New York City (mid-to late-March 2020) the haplotype variants expanded to at least 13. The COVID-19 genomes analysed at the main sites of exponential increases in cases and deaths over a 2 week time period (explosive epicentres) such as Wuhan and New York City showed limited mutation per se of the main haplotypes engaged in disease. When mutation was detected it was usually conservative in terms of significant alterations to protein structure. The coronavirus haplotypes whether in Wuhan, West Coast USA, Spain or New York differ by no more than 2-9 coordinated nucleotide changes and all genomes are thus =99.98% identical to each other. Further, we show that the most similar SARS-like CoV animal virus sequences (bats, pangolins) could not have caused the assumed zoonotic event setting off this explosive pandemic in Wuhan and regions: zoonotic causation via a Chinese wild bat SLCoV reservoir jumping to humans by an intermediate amplifier (e.g. pangolins) is clearly not possible on the basis of the available data. We also discuss the evidence for airborne transmission of COVID-19 as the main infection route and highlight outbreaks on certain ships at sea consistent with their hypothesised cosmic origins. We conclude that the virus originated as a pure genetic strain in a life-bearing carbonaceous meteorite which was first deposited in the tropospheric jet stream over Wuhan. Over the next month or so this viral-laden dust cloud not only descended through the troposphere to target Wuhan and its environs, but was also transported in a Westerly direction through the mid-latitude northern jet stream causing explosive in-fall events sequentially over Iran, Italy, Spain and then New York City in the early months of the pandemic to the end of March 2020. © 2022 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.

Seasonality of Respiratory Viruses Including SARS-CoV-2

We propose that a reservoir of respiratory viruses in clumps of micro-sized dust exists in tropospheric clouds from which virions can be seasonally released into the lower atmosphere and thence to ground level. Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), Seasonal Influenza and Human Para Influenza Virus (HPIV) are all diseases that fall in this category, including SARS-CoV-2. The seasonal incidence of disease at ground level would appear to be patchy over distance scales that are largely dictated by viral-laden dust cloud size modulated by scales of atmospheric turbulence. This could produce clustering of cases in space and time that has given rise to ‘contagion' concepts of community spread and of superspreaders. © 2022 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.

Mid-Ocean Outbreaks of COVID-19 with Tell-Tale Signs of Aerial Incidence

Outbreaks of COVID-19 in passengers and crew in ships at sea continue to pose a problem for conventional epidemiology. In one instance the crew of an Argentinian fishing trawler, who were quarantined and tested negative before sailing, contracted the disease after 35 days at sea. In another instance a livestock ship had crew that was isolated and confined becoming sick with presumed COVID-19 whilst sailing in mid-ocean. © 2022 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.

Overview SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic as January-February 2022: Likely Cometary Origin, Global Spread, Prospects for Future Vaccine Efficacy

As the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is nearing its eventual end we focus on what we believe are two key omissions from the mainstream scientific literature and which have significant implications for how mankind manages the next global pandemic. We therefore review data, observations, analyses and conclusions from our series of papers published through 2020 and 2021 on its likely cometary origin and global spread. We also revisit our long held understanding of the superior effectiveness of intra-nasal vaccines against respiratory tract pathogens that involve induction of dimeric secretory IgA antibodies. While these two oversights seem disparate, together they provide us with new insights into our collective awareness of how we might view and address the next global pandemic. We begin with our hypothesis of the likely cometary origin of the SARS-CoV-2 virus via a bolide strike in the stratosphere on the night of October 11 2019 on the 40o N line over Jilin in NE China. Further global spread most likely occurred via prevailing wind systems transporting both the pristine cometary virus followed by continuing strikes from the same primary source as well as prior human-passaged virus transmitted by person to person spread and through contaminated dust in global wind systems. We also include a discussion of our prior work on data relating to vaccine protective efficacy. Finally we review the totality of evidence concerning the likely origin and global spread of the predominant variants of the virus ‘Omicron' (+Delta mix?) from early to mid-December 2021 and extending into the first week January 2022. We describe the striking data showing the large numbers of infectious cases per day and outline the scale of what appears to be a global pandemic phenomenon, the causes of which are unclear and not completely understood. Firstly, these essentially simultaneous and sudden global-wide epidemic COVID-19 out breaks, appear to be largely correlated with events external to the Earth, probably causing globally correlated precipitation events. They appear related broadly to "Space Weather” events that render the Earth vulnerable to cosmic pandemic pathogen attack particularly during times of the minima of the Sunspot Solar Cycle which we are now currently passing through. Secondly, we argue that these sudden global-wide epidemic outbreaks of COVID-19 are specifically largely influenced by global wind transport and deposition mechanisms, the physics of which we need to further explore and comprehend. We conclude on an optimistic note for mankind. Given our prior knowledge of the effectiveness against respiratory tract pathogens of mucosal immunity involving induction of dimeric secretory IgA antibodies, we consider that the recently published intra-nasal vaccine data from laboratories based at the University of California, San Francisco and, independently at Yale University. These latter studies hold out great promise for the future development of both panspecific and specific immunity against future pandemics caused by suddenly emergent respiratory pathogens, whether viral, bacterial or fungal. © 2022 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.

Exploding Five COVID-19 Myths on its Origin, Global Spread and Immunity

By critically analysing and exploding the key foundation myths that have arisen around the origin, mode of spread and immunity on COVID-19 we lay out the evidence and critical arguments supporting an immediate end to all COVID-19 justified lockdowns. These emergency laws, invoked by many previously free and democratic societies, involve social distancing, obligatory wearing of masks, limited crowd sizes and gatherings (funerals, weddings, religious gatherings, sporting fixtures etc), the closures of schools and many small and large businesses not deemed necessary to containing the virus, border closures, and thus free travel movements, domestic and international. The basic premise in all these dictums is that the primary mechanism of spread of COVID-19 is assumed via person-to-person contacts only. We show this premise to be false. Our recommendations are anchored in the key relevant evidence and observations of the past two years gathered by us and published in a series of papers through 2020 and 2021. Our analysis documents the plausible putative first cause to the arrival of COVID-19 from space in a carbonaceous meteorite bolide in the stratosphere over China on October 11 2019;and then its blanket China-wide viral-laden meteorite dust contamination through November-December 2019 followed by further global dispersal of these viral-laden meteorite dust clouds by prevailing stratospheric and tropospheric wind systems, including human passaged virus aerosol-plumes adding to lower level (tropospheric) viral laden clouds. We explain why all lockdowns of any type cannot possibly work in principle against viral dispersal and transportation of this type - emergence of new clusters of disease, with poor evidence of connectivity through contact, clearly does not support person-to-person infections as the primary cause of spread. The initiation of mass infective events ("Mystery Cases”) in each regional and localised COVID-19 epidemic is caused by unsuspecting victims most likely catching the virus by rubbing up against a virus contaminated environment. We also deal with the efficacy of current vaccination roll outs on population-wide scales. It is most unfortunate that currently available mRNA expression vector vaccines, delivered by the intramuscular route ("Jab in the Arm”), may not only be dangerous in inducing many putative adverse reactions as their human safety is untested, they also cannot protect in principle against common cold and other respiratory pathogen infections like COVID-19 that arrive via the oral-nasal route. That evidence is discussed along with our recommendations for mankind's preparedness for future suddenly emerging pandemics of this type. © 2022 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.

An End of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Sight?

We have set out to assess the data on the intensity of the COVID-19 pandemic with a view to making plausible predictions of its decline. A plot of "% COVID-19 Associated Death per Day” versus the timing and extent of the roll out of national vaccination campaigns in Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and USA shows that the decline in the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic was well advanced noticeably before vaccinations began or could have become a significant contributory factor. Israel is an outlier in its manifest decline pattern, yet the data also demonstrate that vaccination has had no discernible impact at all on % Deaths per Day in Israel. © 2022 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.

COVID-19 Sudden Outbreak of Mystery Case Transmissions in Victoria, Australia, May-June 2021: Strong Evidence of Tropospheric Transport of Human Passaged Infective Virions from the Indian Epidemic

A sudden yet very small outbreak of COVID-19 mystery community transmissions occurred in a defined arc across the inner Western and outer Northern suburbs of Melbourne in May-June 2021. An infection zone that could be 1000 km2 in size. These sudden outbreaks of genuine mystery cases could not be traced to any direct infected contacts nor could they be directly genomically linked to any known infection clusters (e.g. among infected international travellers in hotel quarantine). In response the Government of Victoria on the recommendation of the Chief Medical Officer and the Victorian Department of Health locked down the entire State of Victoria in an extreme Stage 4 emergency. As a consequence, large numbers of PCR COVID-19 tests on oro-nasal swabs were conducted (> 30, 000 per day at peak) and all positives quarantined at home, a directive enforced by police and in some cases the Australian Army. Citizens were neither allowed to leave Melbourne nor from Victoria to any other State of Australia. Contact tracing was conducted on a very large scale by teams of experienced tracers. Several sudden mystery outbreaks continued to occur despite the lock-down on people movements. This included restriction of numbers of visitors at homes, crowd-size limitations, curtailment of sporting events, school closures, mandatory mask wearing, and personal tracking of all individuals in shops and supermarkets (via a personal "QR” digital tracking system linked to mobile phones or via written personal contact statements at store or shop entry). Many of the COVID-19 variants of concern (PANGO classification) were clearly mature human-passaged virions, many of which have been identified in the current and very large 2nd Wave Indian epidemic. We show here there is plausible strong evidence that a heterogeneous set of these "Indian” variants may have been transported by prevailing tropospheric global wind systems via the Indian Ocean and Southern Ocean (Roaring Forties West to East on the 40o S Latitude line) to Victoria, Australia. There is much precedent for such global wind transportations in the history of past Influenza virus pandemics in the last 100 years and the present observations relating to COVID-19 events in Australia are discussed in that context. © 2022 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.

Cometary Origin of COVID-19

The evidence for the cometary origin then rapid global spread of COVID-19 through 2020 is critically reviewed. We outline why it is an alternative plausible scientific explanation to the current bat/pangolin animal jump theories. In our view this explanation is consistent with all the available temporal unfolding scientific data (genomic, immunologic, epidemiologic, geophysical, astrophysical and astrobiological). Thus COVID-19 arrived as infective cryopreserved virions in cometary meteoritic dust clouds from space in a bolide strike in the stratosphere over China on October 11 2019. Prevailing high-level and low-level wind systems then globally distributed the infective viral dust clouds, striking different regions at different times. Given this possibility, a new space challenge for mankind is to develop near-Earth early warning biological surveillance (and mitigation) systems for incoming cosmic in-falls of micro-organisms and viruses from the cometary dust and meteorite streams that our planet routinely encounters as it orbits the Sun. © 2022 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.

Understanding the Origin and Global Spread of COVID-19

This curated collection of scientific papers on the origin and global spread of COVID-19 is a unique project that offers explanations at odds with mainstream views as the theme mainly focuses on Panspermia (viruses, microorganisms and their spores, and cometary arrival of even more complex cellular organisms). No other scientific group has paid attention to the temporal unfolding scientific order at the many required levels of understanding - astrobiological and astrophysical, geographical and the temporal order of global proportions, yet regional epidemics, the immunologic dimensions to the infection and epidemic data, the genetics of the SARS-CoV-2 virus as it adapted, varied and appeared in different human populations in the crucial first few months of the pandemic. This in-depth analysis, over a two-year period, allows a better understanding of what engulfed the world during the COVID-19 pandemic, how it happened and the most plausible way. There are many lessons for future generations that can be distilled from the contributions found in this book. © 2022 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.

Intercontinental Spread of COVID-19 on Global Wind Systems

The pattern of the SARS-CoV-2 incidence concentrated in the 30-50N latitude zone suggests dust carrying the virus is spread by a circum-global jet-stream, specifically the northern sub-tropical jet-stream that blows in the high-altitude troposphere over northern China in early spring-time. It is known that the agent of the Kawasaki disease is carried by long-range winds to Japan and California from north-east China. We hypothesize that dust carrying the virus SARS-CoV-2 was similarly transported from the huge virus reservoir generated in Wuhan province to southern USA, thence across the Atlantic to Portugal and further states to the east. On this model the primary in fall of the dust/virus-carrier depends on the jet-stream interaction with regional weather systems, causing incidence of SARS-CoV-2 cases in various countries/states along this latitude belt. The notable case of Brazil on 31 March 2020-exceptionally outside the 30-50N belt-is proposed to be due to the Azores cyclonic system entraining part of the jet-stream west of Portugal into the south-westerly trade winds, when these winds penetrate to Brazil during spring-time. © 2022 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.

Footprints of Past Pandemics in the Human Genome

Viral pandemics over centuries and millennia have left indelible signatures on our genomes. Deciphering these signatures could give us profoundly important information on our evolutionary history that appears to have been directed by the arrival of new viruses from the deep cosmos. A recent study that shows a residual signature of SARS-CoV-2 (in the form of multiple generational expression of host-specific SARS-CoV targeting viral interacting proteins known as VIPs) in the genomes of a South Asian population suggests that a major COVID-19 type infectious episode may have occurred about 25, 000 years ago. The need to monitor the stratosphere for the arrival of new pathogenic viruses, or even the return of old viruses such as Small Pox, is stressed. © 2022 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.

Growing Evidence against Global Infection-Driven by Person-to-Person Transfer of COVID-19

Examining a sample of still unfolding epidemiological data relating to the world-wide epidemic of Covid-19, we conclude that a connection with an atmospheric in fall appears increasingly probable. © 2022 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.

Comments on the Origin and Spread of the 2019 Coronavirus

We propose that the new coronavirus which first appeared in the Hubei province of China was probably linked to the arrival of a pure culture of the virus contained in cometary debris that was dispersed over a localised area of the planet namely China. The sighting of a fireball some 2000 kilometers north of Wuhan on 11 October 2019 followed shortly after with the first recorded cases in Hubei is suggestive of a causal link. Gene sequencing data of the virus that show little or no genetic variations between isolates, combined with available epidemiological data point to the predominance of a transmission process directly from an "infected” environment, with personto- person transmission playing a comparatively weaker secondary role. The facts relating to this epidemic are discussed and placed in the context of other pandemics that have been recorded throughout history. © 2022 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.

Predicting the Future Trajectory of COVID-19

We argue that the new coronavirus COVID-19 was probably linked to the arrival of a pure culture of the virus in cometary debris that was deposited in the stratosphere, and first came down in the Hubei province of China. The subsequent worldwide spread of the virus has taken place by a combination of two effects: the deposition of further large quantities of virus at several locations - Iran, North Italy, South Korea - combined with much slower spread through person-to-person infection (itself enhanced largely by contaminated surfaces and personal affects). The location of the foci outside China all lie close to latitude 40 degrees N, consistent with the transport of aerosols by cyclonic winds in the stratosphere. It is also remarkably consistent with observations in the 1960‘s of the fall-out of radioactive dust deposited in the stratosphere in the last of the atmospheric atom bomb tests. On this basis, we conclude that a stratospheric loading of the Coronavirus that happened in October/November 2019 could take a few winter seasons to be fully drained. A clearer understanding of the causal events that led to the COVID-19 pandemic could help planning future strategy. © 2022 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.