Thought of the Day - August 31 - Update On the Source

It has been several months since we discussed the importance of finding the source of the SARS-CoV-2 virus (Thought of the Day - June 17 - The Search for the Source).

Following an emergency committee meeting that concluded the critical need for "research into remaining SARS-CoV-2 critical unknowns, such as the source", the WHO stepped up, and in July sent a team to China. Their mandate was to "prepare scientific plans for identifying the zoonotic source of the SARS-COV-2 virus". This in itself was a bit curious as it meant:

1. They were just an advanced team talking about how to go about the identification, rather than progress the thinking;

2. They were not actually talking about finding the source but rather what animal it could have come from.

The team was actually two people, and the pair spent the majority of their three weeks in quarantine (so just did video meetings); they did not actually visit Wuhan where the first major cluster was reported, as well as being the home of the leading laboratory doing coronavirus research. The pair finished their assignment a month ago. When asked for the results, the WHO reported "This is advanced of the full mission, therefore, there are no "results of the WHO's recent mission" to share". Since then there has been no word on the "full mission".

So in short months later all we have is that the closest zoonotic source to SARS-CoV-2 is the horseshoe bat virus which is a 96% genetic match. To put this into perspective, humans and chimps, which have had millions of years of separate genetic evolution, still share 99% of their DNA. In short, the real answer as to why the investigation is taking so long is either:

1. Experts haven't got the slightest clue where it came from, so don't know where to start, or

2. Experts know exactly where it came from but the public does not have the right to know

You choose.

Cheers

Cliff

P.S. Happy Birthday Lesley.