WHO stresses need to find source of coronavirus, says it 'can mutate'

While origin of vel coronavirus has fueled a political spat between United States and China, World Health Organisation has stressed on finding source of SARS-CoV-2. WHO's director of infectious hazard manment Sylvie Briand has told an international news ncy on May 13 that it remains critical to understand where virus came from in a bid to ‘understand how it apted’. virus has ‘inved human species’ since it was first discovered in China’s Wuhan and has w infected over 4.4 million people across world along with causing 298,180 deaths. 

Since many researchers have speculated that vel virus is of animal origin, most particularly bats, Briand has said it is important to understand how such virus was able to infect humans. According to her, virus was transmitted among animals and evolved itself to result in this which causes fatal COVID-19 disease. Moreover, if scientists are able to trace coronavirus back to its source, y can ‘prevent phemen from happening again’ and even avoid ‘ping pong’ of its transmission between humans and animals. 

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Coronavirus ‘can mutate’

senior WHO official also ted that every time SARS-CoV-2 ‘jumps’ from one kind of species to ar, it ‘can mutate a bit’. Briand said that this could furr impact treatments, vaccines that researchers are working on to battle pandemic, however, she reportedly stressed that entire analysis would take some time. French scientist reportedly ackwledged  mutation of coronavirus when researchers in London recently found out that dely coronavirus is “well apted to humans”. 

After analysis of over five thousand strains of SARS-CoV-2 from at least 62 countries, scientists ted that virus is fairly stable but has gained some mutations including changes in geme that impacts ‘spike protein’ that is used by virus to infect human cells. In a n-peer reviewed study led by London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine states that it still remains unclear how modifications in strain are affecting coronavirus.

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(With ncy inputs)

Im Source: AP