COVID-19, Hendra and SARS: How scientists trace viruses through animals to their source
Posted
TueTuesday 9
updated
TueTuesday 9
FebFebruary 2021 at 11:55pm
Virologists eventually figured out that civets and camels transmit SARS and MERS coronaviruses to humans, but the original source for both viruses was bats.
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The first mission to Wuhan in search of the source of SARS-CoV-2 — the virus that causes COVID-19 — wrapped up this week.
More than a dozen experts from around the world, including epidemiologists, veterinarians, medical doctors and virologists, spent the past fortnight looking for clues to the virus's origins.
Last night, at a press conference, World Health Organization food safety and animal diseases expert Peter Ben Embarek said the coronavirus is unlikely to have leaked from a Chinese lab, and most probably jumped to humans via an intermediary species.