Coronavirus: Scientists warned China was ‘time bomb’ for an outbreak

Report explains coronaviruses are well known to undergo genetic recombination

Scientists warned that China was a “time bomb” for a virus like Covid-19 over a decade before the current pandemic emerged.

In a study titled, “Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus as an Agent of Emerging and Reemerging Infection” published in Clinical Microbiology Reviews in 2007, the scientists warned that a culture of eating mammals could lead to an outbreak.

The new coronavirus is believed to have emerged at a seafood market in Wuhan, China, but the exact origin is not yet known.

It is thought that Covid-19 was contracted from mammals in China, because coronaviruses are known to move from animals to humans.

The Wuhan Institute for Virology found that the new coronavirus’ genetic makeup was 96 per cent identical to the kind found in bats, which were also the original source of SARS.

The report states that because coronaviruses move from animals to humans, a culture of eating mammals made an outbreak likely.

The report and its relevance to the current situation was highlighted by SciTechDaily.

“Coronaviruses are well known to undergo genetic recombination, which may lead to new genotypes and outbreaks. The presence of a large reservoir of SARS-CoV-like viruses in horseshoe bats, together with the culture of eating exotic mammals in southern China, is a time bomb,” it read.

The study warned that countries needed to prepare for the possibility of an outbreak.

“The possibility of the reemergence of SARS and other novel viruses from animals or laboratories and therefore the need for preparedness should not be ignored,” it read.

“The small reemergence of SARS in late 2003 after the resumption of the wildlife market in southern China and the recent discovery of a very similar virus in horseshoe bats, bat SARS-CoV, suggested that SARS can return if conditions are fit for the introduction, mutation, amplification, and transmission of this dangerous virus.”

According to a tracking project hosted by Johns Hopkins University, upwards of 81,661 people have tested positive for coronavirus in China. The death toll has reached at least 3285.

In the US, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recommended a two-week ban on gatherings of more than 50 people as part of the battle to contain the spread of the contagion.