Animals Likely Source of Coronavirus- WHO

Animals Likely Source of Coronavirus- WHO

Monday, March 29, 2021 11:43 am


 

Treatment of Coronavirus victims. Credit, The Straits Times

 

Ademola Adegbamigbe

The conspiracy theory pertaining to the origin of Covid-19 (between the East and West, especially China), will continue, even long after the world has defeated the leviathan.

Also, attempts to provide scientific explanations will not abate, even after the disease has been swept into oblivion.

One of the efforts in the latter category is that a joint WHO-China study on the origins of COVID-19 says that transmission of the virus from bats to humans through another animal is the most likely scenario and that a lab leak is “extremely unlikely,” according to a draft copy obtained by The Associated Press.

The findings were, as contained in the report, “largely as expected and left many questions unanswered. The team proposed further research in every area except the lab leak hypothesis.”

It went further that the report’s release has been repeatedly delayed, “raising questions about whether the Chinese side was trying to skew the conclusions to prevent blame for the pandemic falling on China. A World Health Organization official said late last week that he expected it would be ready for release ‘in the next few days.'”

The AP received “what appeared to be a near-final version on Monday from a Geneva-based diplomat from a WHO-member country. It wasn’t clear whether the report might still be changed prior to its release. The diplomat did not want to be identified because they were not authorized to release it ahead of publication.”

The researchers listed four scenarios in order of likelihood. They concluded that transmission through a second anima

The AP report has it further:

“The researchers listed four scenarios in order of likelihood. They concluded that transmission through a second animal was likely to very likely.

They evaluated direct spread from bats to humans as likely, and said that spread through “cold-chain” food products was possible but not likely. The closest relative of the virus that causes COVID-19 has been found in bats, which are known to carry coronaviruses.

However, the report says that “the evolutionary distance between these bat viruses and SARS-CoV-2 is estimated to be several decades, suggesting a missing link.”
It said that highly similar viruses have been found in pangolins, but also noted that mink and cats are susceptible to the COVID virus, which suggests they could be carriers.

The report is based largely on a visit by a WHO team of international experts to Wuhan, the Chinese city where COVID-19 was first detected, from mid-January to mid-February.

Peter Ben Embarek, the WHO expert who led the Wuhan mission, said Friday that the report had been finalized and was being fact-checked and translated.

“I expect that in the next few days, that whole process will be completed and we will be able to release it publicly,” he said.

Associated Press writers Victoria Milko in Jakarta, Indonesia, and Jamey Keaten contributed. The AP Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education.”

 

 

 

 


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