Probe into Covid-19 origins needs ‘open-mindedness’

BEIJING. – To advance the probe into the origins of the novel coronavirus, top Chinese scientists have recently called for open-mindedness and international collaboration, as well as persistent efforts in screening wild animal specimens and samples of possible early infections.

In an article published in The Lancet journal, Chinese researchers stressed that pinpointing a virus’ origin requires “longterm and extensive sample accumulating, which can take several years or decades”.

They reviewed past investigations into sources of major infectious pathogens, including HIV, human coronavirus HKU1 and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus.

To this day, debates surrounding their origins remain alive and existing conclusions are sometimes overthrown with the emergence of new evidence, .

Regarding human coronavirus HKU1, which usually causes mild respiratory illnesses, the virus was identified in 2004 in a patient returning to Hong Kong from Shenzhen, Guangdong province.

But since then, the article said, positive samples have been detected across the globe and spanning decades, as far back as in nasal swab samples taken from children in Brazil in 1995.

“The article is meant to spread awareness of the fact that origins-tracing work cannot be accomplished with one stroke,” Tong Yigang, dean of the College of Life Science and Technology at Beijing University of Chemical Technology said in an interview with Science and Technology Daily.

The article laid out several aspects for future studies on hunting down the novel coronavirus’ origins, including reexamining patients with suspicious symptoms before the pandemic broke out, conducting retrospective tests on blood banks and epidemiological surveys in regions seeing earlier signs of the disease across the globe, as well as launching genomic studies in animal species susceptible to the virus. In addition, researchers said that “open-mindedness and close international cooperation are pivotal for tracing the origins of any viruses”. – ChinaDaily.com