Published on
02-12-21 at 11:11 p.m.
in GENEVA (Belgium)
The World Health Organization (WHO) still wants to know if there were small outbreaks of Covid-19 in China before the first known cases in Wuhan in December 2019, virologist Marion Koopmans said on Friday. This Dutch scientist was part of the WHO-led team that returned from the Chinese city after a mission to research the origins of the coronavirus responsible for Covid-19.The UN mission did not find conclusive evidence of cases before December 2019. However, an extensive review of Chinese disease statistics found that 92 patients who became ill before the outbreak had Covid-like symptoms, Koopmans said at a press conference with the WHO online. Recent blood tests performed in these patients did not reveal antibodies to the virus, but that could be due to the time that has passed. The 2019 samples that are stored in Chinese blood banks could provide answers, said the expert. “Discussions are underway in China to be able to access it,” she added. The WHO-led mission, which included scientists from China and ten other countries, could not determine which animals transmitted the virus to humans for the first time. Bats and pangolins have been identified as potential sources. A year after the virus began to spread to many countries, infections are on the decline across the globe. Although the number of Covid-19 cases has declined for four consecutive weeks, the world must not lower its guard, warned WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at the press conference. “This is not the time for a country to relax its measures,” he warned from Geneva. “We should all be encouraged, but complacency is as dangerous as the virus itself.” The lower numbers appear to be linked to stringent public health measures, Tedros said. The WHO counted 3.1 million new cases of Covid-19 last week, up from a peak of around 5 million in the first week of this year. The number of weekly deaths had peaked at around 100,000 in mid-January. It stood at 88,000 last week. (Belga)
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