Wuhan Institute in China: "Coronavirus Highly Likely to Cause New Diseases"

A bat virus expert at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China, which was suspected as the source of the COVID-19 virus leak, has warned that the likelihood of a new coronavirus disease outbreak is very high.

According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP) on the 24th, Dr. Shi Zhengli, a leading authority on bat viruses at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, emphasized in a paper published with colleagues that the world must prepare for another disease like COVID-19.

Dr. Shi stated, "If coronaviruses have caused diseases in the past, the risk of outbreaks in the future is very high." Coronaviruses are the viruses that caused SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), which mainly broke out in China and Hong Kong in 2003 and claimed thousands of lives worldwide, as well as COVID-19.

Dr. Shi's research team evaluated that out of 40 types of coronaviruses, half?20 types?pose a very high risk of human-to-human transmission. Among these, six types are already known to cause diseases infecting humans, and an additional three types have evidence of causing diseases or infecting other animals. They warned, "It is almost certain that diseases will emerge in the future, and it is very likely that these will again be coronavirus diseases."

The study derived these results by analyzing virus characteristics such as population, genetic diversity, host species, and past history of zoonotic diseases.

Dr. Shi's research team also identified important hosts of pathogens, including natural hosts like bats and rodents, as well as potential intermediate hosts such as camels, civets, pigs, and pangolins.

The paper was published in July in the English-language academic journal Emerging Microbes & Infections, but according to SCMP, it only began to attract attention on Chinese social media this month. This is partly because the paper was not written in Chinese, but there is also analysis suggesting it may be due to the Chinese authorities’ desire to move away from COVID-19 after suddenly abandoning the 'Zero COVID' policy.

A scientist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, who requested anonymity, pointed out, "In occasional private conversations with other public health scholars, I have realized that the Chinese authorities, whether intentionally or not, have been downplaying COVID-19, and some cities have stopped releasing infection data."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.