> different regions of the sequence cannot be assumed to have followed the same evolutionary history This is because of recombination, which is extremely commo

> different regions of the sequence cannot be assumed to have followed the same evolutionary history This is because of recombination, which is extremely common among coronaviruses. If you look at the phylogenetics of the relatives of SARS-CoV-2 (forget about SARS-CoV-2 for a moment), you get different trees if you look at different genes. Did the Wuhan Institute of Virology engineer all the different viruses found in nature in bats? That's the conclusion your friend would have to draw, based on the logic you've presented.