[ad_1]
According to experts, the hypothesis of the intermediate host is “probable or very probable” and the theory that the virus was released from the laboratory is considered “extremely unlikely,” he said in the final version of the long-awaited report, whose copy AFP received on Monday prior to the publication of the official document.
Overall, the findings are as expected and many questions remain unanswered, but the report details the reasons for the expert group’s findings. The researchers suggested further investigation in all areas except the laboratory spread hypothesis.
The report’s release has been long delayed, raising questions about whether Beijing is not trying to distort the findings to prevent China from being held responsible for the pandemic. A World Health Organization (WHO) official said last week that the report should be released “in the next few days.”
The researchers listed four scenarios for the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic coronavirus from highest to lowest probability. At the top of the list is transmission through a second animal, which scientists say is likely or very likely. According to them, direct transmission from bats to humans is also likely, and spread through the food “cold chain” is possible but unlikely.
The closest “relative” to the COVID-19 virus was found in bats, which are known to be infected with coronavirus. However, as the report emphasizes, “the evolutionary distance between these bat viruses and SARS-CoV-2 is believed to be several decades, indicating a missing link here.”
According to the report, very similar viruses were found in bruises, although it is noted that SARS-CoV-2 can also infect tissues and cats, making these animals carriers.
The report is primarily based on data collected by a team of WHO international experts during a mid-January to mid-February visit to Wuhan, China, where COVID-19 was first detected.
WHO expert Peter Ben Embarek, who led the mission in Wuhan, said on Friday that the report is complete and is now being revised and translated.
“I hope that in the next few days the whole process is completed and we can [dokumentą] made public, ”said Ben Embarek.
The draft report does not provide enough data to suggest that the outbreak started in the Wuhan seafood market, where one of the first outbreaks was recorded in December 2019.
The fact that other cases of infection were detected before the outbreak in Juan’s market suggests that the epidemic may have started elsewhere. However, the report notes that there may be milder cases that went unnoticed, and that this may be the link between the market and previous cases.
“Therefore, no firm conclusion can be drawn at this time about the role of the Huanan market in terms of the origins of the outbreak or how the infection entered the market,” the report said.
As the pandemic spread around the world, Chinese services detected traces of the virus in frozen food packages imported into the country. In some cases, local outbreaks of these goods have been identified.
The report’s authors found that the so-called cold chain could be the cause of the virus’s long-term spread, but were skeptical of the theory that this could have triggered the initial outbreak. According to the report, the risk in this case is less than the spread of person-to-person transmission by airborne droplets, and many experts agree with this assessment.
“While there is some evidence that SARS-CoV-2 may have returned from handling the initial imports into China after the initial pandemic, this would have been incredible in 2019 as the virus was not widespread at the time,” the study said.
