Coronavirus disease (Covid-19) is a condition that was discovered in 2019. Coronavirus
is part of the large family of viruses known for causing illnesses such as common cold, Severe
Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV), and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-
CoV) (Roser, Ritchie, & Ortiz-Ospina, 2020). Coronavirus originated in Wuhan, China and is
transmitted through human-human contact. Studies found that SARS-CoV was transmitted from
civet cats to humans and MERS-CoV from dromedary camels to humans. The most common
symptoms of Coronavirus include fever, cough, breathing difficulties and shortness of breath
(Roser, Ritchie, & Ortiz-Ospina, 2020). Symptoms of Covid-19 may appear between two and
fourteen days after coming into contact with the virus. According to US Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, groups of people at a higher risk of being affected by Coronavirus
include infants, the elderly, and people with weak immune systems (DCC, n.d). Coronavirus has
so far affected a total of 170 countries in the world. According to a report released today on the
18 th March 2020 by John Hopkins University, Coronavirus has infected more than 200,000
people in the world (ALJAZEERA, n.d). More than 8,000 people have died from the infection
and approximately 80,000 recovered from the same. Order

Origin of Coronavirus
Conspiracy theorists claim that Coronavirus originated from a laboratory in the Wuhan
Institute of Virology in 2017 (Xiao et al., 2020). The conspiracy theory is based on two
propositions. One of the claims states that coronavirus was engineered in a laboratory in Wuhan
to be used as a bioweapon. The virus leaked as it was being studied due to poor safety
infrastructure as alleged. The second claim is that the virus is new and came from nature. This
view has been accepted by many countries and was recently affirmed in the Lancet that the virus
originated in wildlife. Coronavirus disease (Covid-19); Read more

Theories explaining the origin of Coronavirus
a) Social Cognitive Theory
Social cognitive theory (SCT) was developed by Albert Bandura in 1986. The theory holds
that when people observe a behavior being performed by others and the consequences thereof,
they tend to remember the sequence of events that guide their subsequent behaviors (Jenkiss,
Hall, & Raeside, 2018). This means that people learn certain behaviors simply by observing
others. Trying to explain the origin of coronavirus, people believe in either of the two coined
beliefs solely because they heard others talk about the same. Americans, for instance, may
believe that Covid-19 was manufactured in a laboratory to be used as a bioweapon because
White House strategists Steve Bannon said that the Chinese Communist Party was hiding
information about its origin. Similarly, people may also learn from a report tabled by a team of
researchers led by Racaniello which states that the virus could only have originated from
wildlife.
b) Theory of Planned Behavior
Theory of Planned Behavior was developed by Icek Azjen in 1985. The theory holds that the
intention pointed towards attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control, combine
to shape the behavioral intentions and behaviors of an individual (Tornikoski & Maalaoui, 2019).
The United States and other countries believe that Coronavirus was engineering in Wuhan, China
as a bioweapon. The theory of planned behavior explaining the origin of Coronavirus would
mean that China engineered Coronavirus with the intention of succeeding in war. This might be
true since China and America have had trade issues in the recent past. Coronavirus disease (Covid-19);
c) The Health Belief Model

The health belief model was developed in the 1950s by social psychologists Howard
Leventhal, Godfrey Hochbaum, Stephen Kegeles, and Irwin Rosenstock (Wilson et al., 2019).
The theory was developed to help explains and predict health-related behaviors. It believes that
the beliefs of people concerning a given health condition, perceived benefits of action and
barriers to action, self-efficacy can be used to explain either engagement or lack of engagement
of health-promoting behavior (Wilson et al., 2019). This theory could have been used to project
the rate of Coronavirus infections since the outbreak. Through actions such as regular hand
washing, wearing masks when in public spaces, and maintaining social distance, Coronavirus
can be contained. Coronavirus disease (Covid-19);
In conclusion, coronavirus is a condition that was discovered in 2019 and whose
symptoms include fever, cough, breathing difficulties and shortness of breath. The origin of the
virus is not yet known but it is believed that it was either engineered in a laboratory in Wuhan or
it originated in wildlife. Social cognitive theory, the theory of planned behavior, and health belief
theory are some of the theories that can be used to explain the origin of Coronavirus.