A physician reads the CT scan photographs of 2019-nCoV sufferers in a resort accommodating remoted individuals in Wuhan in central China's Hubei pr
A physician reads the CT scan photographs of 2019-nCoV sufferers in a resort accommodating remoted individuals in Wuhan in central China’s Hubei province Monday, Feb. 03, 2020.
Function China | Barcroft Media through Getty Photos
The brand new coronavirus that emerged from a seafood market in Wuhan, China doubtless originated in bats after which jumped to an “intermediate host” earlier than infecting people, World Well being Group officers stated Tuesday.
Scientists are operating assessments on varied animals, however have thus far not discovered the host liable for the outbreak, Dr. Sylvie Briand, head of WHO’s World Infectious Hazard Preparedness division, informed reporters at a information convention on the company’s headquarters in Geneva.
“Research are ongoing as a result of they’re checking a variety of animal species, so it takes a while,” Briand stated.
Briand stated scientists made the invention after conducting additional research on the virus’s genetic sequence that Chinese language well being authorities had been capable of isolate and share on a public database. They discovered the brand new virus, which has been named Covid-19, is similar to different coronavirus present in bats, she stated.
However when scientists went to the seafood market in Wuhan, they “did not discover so many bats,” Briand stated. It “requires extra analysis.”
SARS, the coronavirus that emerged in November 2002 and killed practically 800 individuals cross the world over 9 months,…