Catherine Tyldesley has joked that there'd be no coronavirus if "the Chinese had stuck to cheese sandwiches".
The former Coronation Street star, 36, was dressed up as her alter-ego Olga Keff in an Instagram video when she made the outrageous quip.
It references the the theory that the virus may have been passed to humans by bats.
In the video the mum-of-one said she was showing her followers "one of her favourite lockdown recipes", which is a cheese sandwich with brown sauce.
She joked: "Tell you what, if the Chinese had stuck to cheese sandwich we wouldn't be in this mess."
Dressed in a chef's hat that read "gay icon", the soap star had on a fake moustache and monobrow.
She was dressed in a baggy grey jumper and a red scarf as she filmed in her kitchen.
Catherine, who played Eva Price in Corrie, said in the video that she was going to share a "really simple recipe" with her followers.
"Today we are going to make a cheese sandwich," she continued.
The former Strictly Come Dancing contestant added: "It's a firm favourite of mine.
"We are going to use lactose free cheese, can't go near cow's milk me, goes straight through me."
While previous studies suggested that bats or snakes may have been responsible for the spread of the coronaviurs, a new study from the University of Michigan suggests another animal may be the missing link - pangolins.
The SARS-CoV-2 virus is believed to have come from bats, but the scientists say that pangolins could have served as an intermediate host between bats and humans.
In the UK there has been 25,150 confirmed cases of coronavirus with 1,789 deaths.
