A report by an international group of mostly American and Chinese scientists has traced the likely origin of the coronavirus to horseshoe bats, The New York Times has reported.
In an attempt to lessen the chance of an outbreak of pandemics in the future, the report urges closer monitoring of bat viruses in southern China and increased efforts to change human behavior.
The study by the team, which included a prominent researcher at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, was supported by a $3 million U.S. grant to non-profit EcoHealth Alliance that was recently canceled by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), according to the Times.
The grant was well on track to renewal, and the scientific community protested the sudden reversal, with 31 American scientific societies signing a letter last month to the NIH.
In addition, 77 Nobel laureates said the cancellation appeared to be based on politics rather than scientific merit, particularly since the Wuhan Institute is the target of many conspiracy theorists.
The research includes an analysis of bat and viral evolution that strongly backs the suspected origin of the virus in horseshoe bats. However, it is not definitive, because so much about such viruses is still unknown.
The study concentrated on identifying hot spots for potential spillovers of these viruses into humans, and disease outbreaks that took place due to this.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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