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COVID-19 Causing SARS-CoV-2 Virus May Not Originate In China - Oxford University Scientist
Faizan Hashmi Published July 06, 2020 | 08:31 PM
The SARS-CoV-2 virus that has caused the global COVID-19 pandemic may not have originated in China and could have instead been a dormant virus that was activated by environmental conditions, Tom Jefferson, a senior associate tutor at the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine at the University of Oxford told The Telegraph newspaper
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 06th July, 2020) The SARS-CoV-2 virus that has caused the global COVID-19 pandemic may not have originated in China and could have instead been a dormant virus that was activated by environmental conditions, Tom Jefferson, a senior associate tutor at the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine at the University of Oxford told The Telegraph newspaper.
"I think the virus was already here - here meaning everywhere. We may be seeing a dormant virus that has been activated by environmental conditions," Jefferson told the newspaper on Sunday.
Studies of wastewater across Europe have found traces of SARS-CoV-2 dating back as early as 2019, which has prompted scientists to reassess how viruses transmit.
"There was a case in the Falkland Islands in early February. Now where did that come from?" Jefferson stated.
Another virus that is a 96.2 percent genetic match with the SARS-CoV-2 virus is believed to have been discovered at a cave in China's Yunnan province back in 2012, the UK newspaper The Times reported on Sunday. The virus is believed to have caused an outbreak of pneumonia among six mine workers that resulted in three deaths.
Leading officials in Washington, including President Donald Trump, have alleged that the SARS-CoV-2 virus was leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan. The Chinese government has consistently denied these accusations, saying that they lack scientific evidence.
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