Close X
Wednesday, November 27, 2024
ADVT 
National

Expert says origins of pandemic could be known in few years

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 13 Mar, 2021 12:20 AM
  • Expert says origins of pandemic could be known in few years

The global community will find out “fairly soon, within the next few years” what started the coronavirus pandemic, a key member of a World Health Organization-led investigation into the pandemic's origins said on Wednesday.

In a press briefing organized by the think-tank Chatham House in London, Peter Daszak estimated that collective scientific research might be able to pin down how animals carrying COVID-19 infected the first people in Wuhan identified last December.

“There was a conduit from Wuhan to the provinces in South China, where the closest relative viruses to (the coronavirus) are found in bats,” said Daszak, the president of the New York based group, EcoHealth Alliance. He said the wildlife trade was the most likely explanation of how COVID-19 arrived in Wuhan, where the first human cases were detected.

That hypothesis, Daszak said, is “the one that’s most strongly supported both on the WHO (and) the China side.” Daszak and his co-authors are set to release a report as early as next week, on the initial conclusions of their recent mission to Wuhan.

“I am convinced we’re going to find out fairly soon within the next few years," Daszak said regarding the outbreak's origins. "We can have real significant data on where this came from and how it emerged.”

It typically takes many years to pinpoint the animal reservoir of outbreaks. Although Ebola first sickened people in 1976 and the disease is thought to originate in bats, the live virus has never been identified in them.

Marion Koopmans, who was also on the WHO-led team, said they considered numerous hypotheses for how the pandemic might have started, including the possibility of a laboratory accident.

Koopmans said the team visited the three laboratories closest to the Huanan market in Wuhan where the first cluster of human cases was found, and scrutinized their protocols, testing programs and research, among other issues.

"We concluded that it’s extremely unlikely that there was a lab incident,” she said.

Koopmans also said she and colleagues had reviewed genetic sequencing from data on the possibility that the virus might have been spread by tainted packaging on frozen seafood, a theory dismissed by most scientists.

“We cannot completely rule it out,” she said, noting that on a global scale, it was very difficult to pin down whether COVID-19 cases might have been sparked by the very remote possibility of a still-infectious virus on packaging, or from epidemics happening in nearly every country in the world.

Daszak said the scientific mission was unfortunately clouded by politics. The WHO-led mission was delayed for months and the U.N. health agency was accused of helping China cover up the extent of the COVID-19 outbreak in its initial stages by former U.S. President Donald Trump and others. As with all WHO missions, the team members and itinerary of the trip had to be approved by China.

MORE National ARTICLES

Link shows COVID-19 load in Metro Vancouver water

Link shows COVID-19 load in Metro Vancouver water
Metro Vancouver, the regional district that delivers water, waste treatment and other services to the area's local governments, says the tool is now active on its website.

Link shows COVID-19 load in Metro Vancouver water

Mild spring predicted for most of Canada

Mild spring predicted for most of Canada
Chris Scott, chief meteorologist with The Weather Network, said Canadians can count on some sunny days to put a bounce in their step after a long winter.

Mild spring predicted for most of Canada

COVID-19 at two more Metro Vancouver hospitals

COVID-19 at two more Metro Vancouver hospitals
A statement from Fraser Health says the outbreaks are in single units of Surrey Memorial Hospital and Chilliwack General Hospital.

COVID-19 at two more Metro Vancouver hospitals

B.C.'s COVID-19 mass immunization plans due today

B.C.'s COVID-19 mass immunization plans due today
Horgan is expected to lay out who will receive the first shots, when they will get them and which B.C. residents will be next in line.

B.C.'s COVID-19 mass immunization plans due today

7 COVID19 deaths for Friday

7 COVID19 deaths for Friday
The viral vector vaccine produced by Oxford-AstraZeneca and the Verity-Serum Institute of India vaccine. This is very encouraging news for everyone in British Columbia.

7 COVID19 deaths for Friday

Fugitive Arrested In Connection To International Multi-kilo Cocaine Investigation at YVR

Fugitive Arrested In Connection To International Multi-kilo Cocaine Investigation at YVR
Wong was charged in July 2012 after the Public Prosecution Service of Canada (PPSC) approved charges for conspiracy to traffic cocaine, conspiracy to import cocaine and possession of a loaded prohibited firearm.

Fugitive Arrested In Connection To International Multi-kilo Cocaine Investigation at YVR