WHO Experts’ Opinion: Bats Were the Source of Coronavirus

World Health Organization experts have said that bats were “very likely” the source of the coronavirus. According to them, the spread of coronavirus from an animal market in Wuhan, China cannot be proven.

The assessment of World Health Organization experts along with their Chinese colleagues is that the coronavirus very likely transmitted from bats to some kind of intermediate animal and was then transferred to humans through that route.

This hypothesis had been widespread among experts since the beginning of the pandemic outbreak and is now confirmed in some way. They believe that more research should be conducted to reach more precise results.

According to these experts, it is highly unlikely that the virus escaped from a laboratory. This is a view that former US President Donald Trump had raised mostly for political purposes.

Knowledge in the Field of Diplomatic Competition

World Health Organization experts traveled to Wuhan, China at the beginning of this year.

The international community feared that China would somehow influence the results of the investigation. Naturally, this country was not willing to be held responsible for spreading the deadly coronavirus throughout the world.

After Joe Biden was elected President of the United States, this concern also remained that the World Health Organization would refrain from publishing all of its research information and findings.

On the other hand, China emphasized that the World Health Organization’s mission was only made possible through the benefit of scientific cooperation with the People’s Republic.

Four Possible Scenarios

Experts paid attention to four scenarios, in order of importance, and ultimately concluded that the transmission of the virus from bats through an intermediate animal to humans is more likely than any other possibility.

Direct transmission of the virus from bats was unlikely, and transmission of the virus from frozen food products to humans was even more unlikely.

A virus that bears great similarity to SARS-CoV-2 has been seen in bats. However, the evolutionary path of the aforementioned virus differs from SARS-CoV-2 by several decades.

Very similar viruses have been seen in animals such as pangolins (anteaters), but minks and cats could also play the role of intermediate animals.

Experts did not reach a definitive conclusion about the speculation that the coronavirus was first transmitted from an animal market in Wuhan to humans.

Samples of the virus have been found from before the pandemic outbreak began, which strengthens the speculation that the virus originated from somewhere other than Wuhan.

The World Health Organization report does not rule out the possibility that before infections appeared in the Wuhan market, weaker forms of the virus that causes COVID-19 may have existed in other locations.

Source: DW