Most believe coronavirus got transmitted to humans from bats in Wuhan, China. The story might not be that clear: even though the virus originated in bats, how the jump to humans occurred is still a mystery. The World Health Organization recently released its plan to investigate the origins of SARS-Cov-2 which starts in Wuhan, China. The team that soon will be dispatched to the field consists of epidemiologists, virologists and public health, animal health and food safety experts. The team had their first virtual meeting with researchers from China on October 30th to go over the preliminary evidence and develop study protocols. WHO reported that the first round of investigations will be undertaken by researchers already in China and international researchers will travel to China after the results of those investigations come out.
According to a recent report from the WHO, early investigations that looked into the frozen animal carcasses at the market the first identified cases visited showed no evidence of SARS-CoV-2. Hence, the whereabouts of the first wave of transmission within the market is still unknown. However, even though they didn’t provide leads to narrow down the research, environmental samples taken from drains and sewage did test positive for the virus. The WHO’s mission is to investigate the wild and farmed animals sold at the same market and other markets in Wuhan to trace animals’ journeys with a priority of tracing cats and mink. The organization is also planning on looking into hospital records to check for coronavirus cases before December 2019.
-Bethel
Reference
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03165-9
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