WHO Team Member Says It’s Time To Explore Bat Caves In China To Trace COVID-19 Origin

Representational image; courtesy: Firstpost

Wuhan: While searching for COVID-19 origin in the Chinese city Wuhan, a member of the World Health Organization (WHO) said work was required to try and trace the origin of the virus in China’s bat caves.

Zoologist and animal disease expert, Peter Daszak said the team in Wuhan had been getting information about how the virus, first identified in the city in late 2019, led to a worldwide pandemic. According to him, there was no evidence to suggest it emerged from a lab, reported news agency Reuters.

Daszak was part of the research into the origins of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2002-2003, tracing its roots to bats living in a cave in southwest Yunnan province.

“Similar research needs to be done if we are going to find the true wildlife origin of COVID-19,” said Daszak, who is the president of the New York-based EcoHealth Alliance.

“That sort of work to find the likely bat source is important because if you can find the sources of these lethal viruses you can reduce the contact with those animals,” Daszak was quoted as saying in an interview by Reuters.

It is not clear whether China is sampling its several bat caves, but viruses similar to SARS-CoV-2 had previously been found in the southwest province of Yunnan, the agency said.

“I’m seeing a picture coming through of some of the scenarios looking more plausible than before,” he stated.

The team is closely monitoring the possibility of virus circulating well before it was first identified in Wuhan. “That’s something our group is looking at very intensely to see what level of community transmission could have been happening earlier,” Daszak said.

ALSO READ: India Fastest In World To Clock Nearly 4.5 Million COVID-19 Vaccinations