China's bat caves may hold COVID clues
In the search for clues to the origins of COVID-19, China’s bat caves need exploring to trace genetic elements of the virus.
That’s the recommendation from a member of the World Health Organization-led team investigating the virus in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
Peter Daszak, a zoologist and animal disease expert, said the team in Wuhan had been receiving new information about how the virus led to a pandemic.
He said there was no evidence to suggest it emerged from a lab.
But they were examining the potential link to bats.
"How did the virus get from bats in some of other part in China or Southeast Asia into Wuhan, and that's the real work we are doing here. We're trying to chase back from the first cases back to an animal reservoir, and that's a much more convoluted path, and that may have happened over a period of, you know, a number of months or even years. So it is a process."
"That sort of work, to find the bat, the likely bat source is important because if you can find the sources of these lethal viruses, then you can reduce the contact with those animals, and reduce the behaviors that put us at risk, and prevent pandemics."
One scenario being scrutinized more closely by the team is the possibility that the virus could have been circulating long before it was first identified in Wuhan at the end of 2019.
The investigators have so far visited hospitals, research facilities and the seafood market where the first outbreak was identified.
相關影片推薦
1:10
東港線湧遊客 估暑假首日小琉球登島人數破萬民視影音24,626 次觀看・9 小時前1:34
影/平靜溪水秒變山洪!菲律賓瀑布慘劇一家3口罹難民視影音12,580 次觀看・2 年前1:56
中正紀念堂三軍儀隊 最快年底移至自由廣場民視影音4,145 次觀看・8 小時前1:57
自助餐「鱈魚+2菜」要120元 記者回店買變200元更貴!東森新聞影音14,058 次觀看・6 小時前1:50
恐怖! 老翁遭野狗攻擊 頭耳腳多處傷 血留滿地民視影音44,321 次觀看・13 小時前1:12
快檢查手機!3G網路明關閉 53萬戶受影響華視影音3,607 次觀看・13 小時前1:11
孫安佐轉戰成人平台! 將和陳沂合體SWAG證實了娛樂星聞6,051 次觀看・2 天前4:34
華為開發者大會自嗨 鴻蒙星河版HarmonyOS NEXT應用程式少安卓700倍 標榜「一個系統」走蘋果過去的路 中國網友質疑鴻蒙不可能「純血」|全球聊天室 #鏡新聞鏡新聞1,627 次觀看・6 小時前1:47
"惡霸犬"討摸後飛撲咬鳥 鸚鵡肚子遭咬喪命民視影音79,697 次觀看・1 天前1:54
儀隊撤離中正紀念堂至自由廣場 傳最快年底實施東森新聞影音1,052 次觀看・6 小時前