A five -year mystery

Five years have passed since the world first listened to the name of Wuhan as the epicenter of a disease that would change recent history. The Chinese city, with 11 million inhabitants, became the initial focus of the Covid Pandemia, which left more than 6.9 million deaths confirmed worldwide, according to official data of the World Organization of the World Organization of the Health (WHO). However, the true origins of the Sars-COV-2 virus are still wrapped in a veil of mystery and controversy. Some scientists believe that the great brain Covid was born in this Chinese city, But others speak without causing of their zoonotic origin.
On December 31, 2019, the Chinese authorities notified WHO the appearance of a group of pneumonia cases of unknown origin in Wuhan. It was soon identified that the causal agent was a coronavirus similar to that which had caused the outbreak of Sars in 2003. What began as a local problem became a global crisis in a matter of weeks, when infections spread throughout the planet.
They were the first bars of a health crisis of signs still uncertain: last December WHO herself asked for Beijing Transparency on the genetic sequence of the first cases in the Huanan market in Wuhan and the work carried out in the city’s laboratories.
According to the WHO general director, Adhanom ghebreyesus tedroswithout complete data “all the hypotheses are in the air”, including the theory that the coronavirus accidentally escapes some biosecurity laboratory, which according to the scientists of the organism who visited China was the least likely of the hypotheses, but not dischargeable.
The first cases were related to the Huanan seafood market, A place known for the sale of live animals and exotic products. This connection fed theories about The possible virus jump from an animal to humansa phenomenon known as zoonosis. However, the exact details about how and where this leap happened are still uncertain.
Today, the Huanan market is still completely sealed and jealously guarded by security guards. The two ships that made it up, separated by a street, are still closed five years later.
In January 2020, shortly after the first cases of the then called Mysterious Pneumoni BrokenA, the market dropped the blind after detecting the spread of infection in vendors and customers.
Just one day before the Chinese government had informed the WHO of Wuhan detection of the first cases, but by then the Coronavirus was already transmitted at full speed.
For months, researchers completely wrapped in white protection teams were Unique authorized to enter the enclosure to disinfect and collect samples.
In Huanan there is no trace of them or merchants or customers who once crazy an outdoor market in which they could buy from fruits and vegetables to Fresh meat, seafood, herbs and spices. Only surrounding establishments are active as a wide gallery that covers a hundred optics.
At the time, even the local press published that in the market they were sold to Faisanes and Snakes and scientists suspected that certain native bats from southern China or the Pangolin could have caused the transmission.
Meanwhile, other voices did not rule out that the pathogen escaped a laboratory, hypotheses that still causes outrage in Beijing.
According to WHO, China is needed to share the genetic and molecular results that were kept on the animal market: «The virus has not been identified in animals or market animalsnor have we found animals that have infected humans, ”said the technical head of the fight against pandemic in WHO, Maria van Kherkove.
A laboratory accident?
From the beginning, the scientific community has been divided with respect to the origin of the virus. The two main hypotheses are:
Zoonotic origin: The virus could have transmitted from an animal, such as a bat, an intermediate guest (Pangolines or other species) before infecting humans. This theory is based on previous coronavirus patterns and the genetics of SARS-COV-2.
Laboratory accident: Another possibility is that the virus accidentally escape from the Wuhan Virology Institute, a high security installation where Coronavirus were studied. Although initially considered a conspiracy theory, in recent years some reports have led to reconsider this option as plausible.
In 2021, WHO carried out an investigation in Wuhanbut the report concluded that there were no conclusive evidence to confirm any of the theories. However, delays in data access and lack of transparency by the Chinese government have generated criticism and suspicions.
The global impact of mystery
While the origin of the Covid remains uncertain, its impact is indisputable. Pandemia paralyzed economieshe transformed health systems and left deep psychological scars into the world population. Global inequalities were accentuated with the distribution of vaccines, and the world still faces the economic and social sequels of the virus.
On the other hand, the lack of consensus on the origins of the SARS-COV-2 has tensioned diplomatic relations, especially between the United States and China. In March 2023, the US Department of Energy supported the laboratory accident hypothesis with “low confidence”, while other agencies, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)they kept their approach to the zoonotic origin.
The future of prevention
Five years later, one of the greatest lessons in the pandemic has been the need to strengthen global preparation For future pandemic threats. The rapid creation of HRNM -based vaccines showed the power of scientific innovation, but also highlighted the importance of international collaboration.
In addition, lack of transparency and delays in the initial response underlined the need to improve early alert systems and foster greater confidence among countries. Science must be in the center of prevention And the response to future pandemics, while the world requires clarity about the origins of SARS-COV-2 to prevent similar tragedy from happening again.
An unsolved mystery
Five years after the pandemic broke out that put the planet in check, the origin of the COVID continues to be a mystery: The World Health Organization (WHO) continues to claim China More information, while Beijing He assures that he has delivered all the data he has.
Several days ago a communication agency spoke with a resident, Chu Jingwho explained that “we are glad to have returned to normal, but it is good to remember it because many do not want to forget as if nothing had happened.” For its part, Liu xuan, Also to this news chain, he remembered the uncertainty of those first days of confinement, with the completely empty streets and the box of infections and dead dead: «It was difficult to find a bed in a hospital or get food, because even if you could leave There was practically nothing in supermarkets ».
«At first they were rumors and people didn’t know what to do. We didn’t know If we were infected and there was no way to know. The city was confined overnight, people had to have known more details what was happening to take measures, ”he says.