An article in Lawfare on 14 May says that while today viruses are considered to be an infectious biological agent and are categorically banned as a method of warfare by the Biological Weapons Convention, some types of synthetic biology (SynBio) may pose a similar dilemma and yet may not be covered by the same restrictions. It says that SynBio includes a host of technologies used to redesign organisms by engineering them to have new properties or abilities, or to use nonbiological materials that mimic biological effects, and a scientific uncertainty has opened a lacunae in the law, and it is unclear whether the member states of the BWC can close it.
https://www.lawfareblog.com/some-synthetic-biology-may-not-be-covered-biological-weapons-convention
If you’d like to help to contribute to the cost of the new laptop and desktop I have had to acquire, now that I am 5,000 miles away from my originals – https://www.buymeacoffee.com/KoIvM842y