Top Chinese virologist Shi Zhengli has said that the pathogen will continue to mutate and the world should be prepared to coexist with it.
“Since the number of infected cases just got huge, it gave more opportunities for the novel coronavirus to mutate and select. New forms will continue to emerge,” Xi said.
The head of the Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Xi has become the subject of intense speculation, including a conspiracy theory that COVID-19 may have escaped from a Chinese laboratory.
Popularly attributed as “Bat Woman”, Shea’s research focuses on the origins of the novel coronaviruses. She published a paper last year suggesting that the Chinese horseshoe bat was the natural host for SARS-related coronaviruses.
As the coronavirus outbreak continues around the world, genetic variants have emerged and circulated.
The delta variant was first identified in India in October and is the most infectious strain, spreading more aggressively than the previous strain due to its higher viral load. This has led to a surge in cases around the world, including in China, where many cities are testing the population on a large scale to prevent transmission.
According to the World Health Organization, at least 135 countries have reported cases of the delta variant.
Meanwhile, Xi called on the scientific community to accelerate the development of new vaccines and drugs to prevent upper respiratory infections against the virus.
US intelligence agencies are searching for a treasure trove of genetic data that could be key to uncovering the origins of the coronavirus – as soon as they can decipher it. This vast catalog of information includes genetic blueprints drawn from samples of the virus studied in a laboratory in Wuhan, China, which some officials believe may have been the source of the COVID-19 outbreak. Several people familiar with the matter told CNN.
It is unclear how or when US intelligence agencies gained access to the information, but the machines involved in creating and processing such genetic data from the virus are typically connected to external cloud-based servers – allowing their hacks. The possibility is left open, sources told CNN.
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