The weaponisation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has been a new element in twenty-first century warfare where ‘biowarfare’ is no exception. Active research has been taking place on the Internet of Things (IoT) domain which finds a wide range of applications in biology. Digitalisation and artificial intelligence have a significant impact on the functioning of microbiology laboratories.

Despite the existence of several mechanisms and frameworks that regulate the use and production of CBWs, they continue to exist, and pose risk to environmental and human health. Their use in wars and conflicts in the past have inflicted severe damages on ecosystems, as evidenced by the cases of different wars. Yet these issues are seldom brought up in the narratives on chemical and biological warfare, except from a moral point of view.

The COVID-19 crisis has emerged at a time when the world has been witnessing a renewed geopolitical rivalry, and the pandemic has accentuated it. As a result, the quest for the origins of the SARS CoV-2 has remained elusive, even after a long-awaited investigation done by the WHO. Geopolitics seems to have been the final arbiter of the probe, rather than science.

It is unclear at present how the proposal by China and Pakistan for an Aspirational (Ethical) Code under the BTWC will be taken forward through to the 9th Review Conference of the Convention in 2022. However, some difficult questions will have to be addressed for this process to be successful in producing a code that can then be implemented in more detailed codes of conduct and codes of practice in national and professional settings after the Review Conference.