Coronavirus: more heat than light in quest for origin of Covid-19

Name: Coronavirus hunters find new evidence pointing to the virus originating in Italy
Uploaded: 2020-11-24T15:00:09.000Z
Duration: 1 min 51 s
Description: Coronavirus hunters find new evidence pointing to the virus originating in Italy

The WHO, an Italian study and a team from a medical journal are tracking the pathogen’s source but there’s still no answer on where it made the leap to humans

China maintains that the disease’s initial appearance in Wuhan did not mean it started there

Reading Time:4 minutes

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The WHO team will investigate if the pathogen possibly jumped from an animal to a human host in Wuhan. Photo: TNS

Linda LewandNadia Lam

Published: 11:00pm, 24 Nov 2020Updated: 6:46am, 25 Nov 2020

As the World Health Organization presses on with an investigation into the origins of the coronavirus, the question of where it came from seems to be generating more heat than light.

The Lancet medical journal joined the fray on Monday, saying it was starting an investigation of its own.

China has repeatedly said it will work closely with the WHO on tracing the virus’s source, but maintains that while the pathogen was first identified in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, it does not necessarily mean it originated in the country.

Virologists generally agree that is the case, but also stress that a full investigation into the original outbreak in Wuhan is needed to find out.

01:51

Coronavirus hunters find new evidence pointing to the virus originating in Italy

The WHO team will investigate if the pathogen possibly jumped from an animal to a human host in Wuhan, or whether it slipped into the city from somewhere else.

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