Five years after the pandemic broke out that put the planet in check, the origin of Covid remains a mystery. The World Health Organization (WHO) It continues to demand more information from China, while Beijing claims to have provided all available data.
Where it all began
In the city of Wuhanhome to more than 11 million people and where the first cases were reported in December 2019, life has resumed its course after a confinement of more than two months in January 2020 to stop infections.
According to the WHO, the virus left almost 800 million infections and 7 million deaths all over the world.
“We are glad to have returned to normal, but it is good to remember it because many of us do not want to forget as if nothing had happened“said Chu Jing, a Wuhan resident.
Another Wuhan woman, Liu Xuan, recalled: “It was difficult to find a bed in a hospital or get food, because even if you could go out, there was practically nothing in the supermarkets.”
“At first it was all 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 locked down from one day to the next, people should have known in more detail what was happening to be able to take action,” he says.
Huanan market
In January 2020, after the spread of infections in sellers and customers was detected, the huanan market was closed. Today, it remains sealed and guarded, with no trace of the merchants or customers who once crowded the place, where you could buy everything from fruits and vegetables to fresh meat, seafood, herbs and spices.
For months, researchers completely clad in white protective equipment They were the only ones authorized to enter the premises to disinfect it and collect samples.
At the time, even the local press noted that pheasants and snakes were sold there, while scientists suspected certain bats native to southern China or pangolins as possible intermediaries in transmission.
However, according to the WHO, “the virus has not been identified in animals or animal samples from the market, nor have we found animals that have infected humans,” he said. Maria Van Kherkovetechnical manager of the fight against the pandemic at the WHO.
The WHO’s request to China
Last December, the WHO again asked China for greater transparency about the genetic sequence of the first cases in Wuhan, the work carried out in the city’s laboratories and the genetic and molecular results related to the animal market.
According to the director general of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom GhebreyesusWithout complete data, “all hypotheses are up in the air,” including the theory that the virus accidentally escaped from a biosafety laboratory. Although this is considered the least likely hypothesis, it cannot be ruled out.
The WHO also stressed the need for more studies to trace the animal that may have acted as a middleman, in addition to obtaining answers about the origin of the animals on the market.
“We also asked, with no response, for serological tests from people who worked in the market or on the farms from which the animals came,” he said.
China claims to have “actively supported global research” on the coronavirus. According to Mao Ningspokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, the experts that the WHO sent “met all the people they wanted to meet and saw all the materials they wanted to see.”
