China, the first affected by COVID-19, wanted to be reassuring Wednesday after the discovery in the country of a strain of swine flu virus with characteristics of a potential pandemic.
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The new coronavirus, first reported at the end of last year in the Chinese metropolis of Wuhan, has since infected more than 10 million people worldwide.
According to most scientists, the virus was probably transmitted to humans from an animal. A city market has been accused of selling live wild animals.
According to a study published Monday in the American scientific journal PNAS, researchers discovered in China a strain of swine flu virus which “have all the essential characteristics showing a high adaptability to contaminate humans”.
The viruses are called G4 and are genetically descended from the H1N1 strain, causing a previous pandemic in 2009.
Asked about it, a spokesman for Chinese diplomacy, Zhao Lijian, minimized the danger on Wednesday, saying that his country would continue “to monitor the disease, give the alert (if necessary) and deal with it in time.” timely ”.
The authors of this study are scientists from Chinese universities and the Chinese Center for Disease Prevention and Control.
Between 2011 and 2018, they carried out 30,000 nasal swabs on pigs in slaughterhouses in 10 Chinese provinces and in a veterinary hospital.
This operation isolated 179 swine flu viruses.
According to the study, relatively many people in contact with pigs were infected (10.4%).
“The experts concluded that the sample size cited in the report is small and not representative,” said Mr. Zhao.
Scientists say the G4 viruses have already spread to humans, but there is no evidence that they can be transmitted from human to human.
In 2018, an epidemic of African swine fever decimated the Chinese herd.
The disease had soared the price of pork, which is by far the most widely consumed meat in the country.
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