WHO scientist and head of the coronavirus origin studying group Peter Ben Embarek says that COVID-19 is a natural virus.
The WHO official Twitter page has released an interview with him.
“We have now the tools that allow us to look at the genetic makeup of these viruses. And when we look at our virus, the COVID-19 virus, there is nothing in its makeup that would indicate that it has been manufactured. It's clearly a natural virus and there are many of these around, we have seen several of them in the past. So, in itself it's not a surprise. Laboratory accidents happen unfortunately once in a while. It has happened many times in the past. And of course, it's even a remote possibility. We have to look at this as a possibility. So, we will of course also look at that hypothesis among many others, even if it's an unlikely one. There is no evidence so far indicating that anybody was working with this virus in the past. There is no evidence to indicate that it would have escaped a laboratory in any way, but of course we will have that in mind when we look at the origin of this virus,” he said.
He also focused on the importance of studying the virus origin.
“It's important to understand the origin of the virus for three key reasons. One is if we find the source and if it's still out there, we can prevent future reintroduction of the same virus into the human population. The second reason is that if we understand how this one jumped from bats origin into humans, we can perhaps prevent similar events in the future. So, to prevent future similar pandemics. And the third reason is that if we can find the virus, what it looked like before it jumped to the human population, we could potentially be in a better position to develop more efficient treatments and vaccines for this disease,’’ he said.
WHO team of experts arrived in Wuhan on January 14.
They are subject to a 14-day quarantine and will launch working to study the virus origin afterward.
Why is it important for scientists to look for the origins of the virus? Learn more about the team which is looking for the origins of the #COVID19 virus #ScienceIn5 pic.twitter.com/aCBu7rhBKd
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) January 17, 2021
