After more than 18 months of maintaining that they had nothing to do with the death of The Washington Post journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, the government of Saudi Arabia are claiming that he was the first known victim of the Coronavirus, COVID-19.
Mr. Khashoggi walked into the Saudi Embassy in Istanbul on 2 October 2018, to 'complete some paperwork' in relation to his planned marriage, and never again emerged.
Several rumors abound as to what happened next.
Now, however, with the Coronavirus having swept around the world with the rapidity it has, Riyadh has decided to pin the blame for Mr. Khashoggi's untimely demise on the 'unseen viral assassin'.
This solution is almost certain to satisfy President Trump, who, at the time of Mr. Khashoggi's death, was keen to avoid blaming the Saudis, in the interest of maintaining trade interests.
As a result, the Saudi government has notified the World Health Organization of their findings, and requested that the label COVID-19 be replaced with COVID-18.
