A Russian World Health Organization (WHO) representative has claimed that the novel coronavirus has remained dormant for months before activating into its lethal form. WHO official Melita Vujnovic believes that COVID-19 pathogen might have existed somewhere before the outbreak of the pandemic.
Coronavirus Remained Dormant
"WHO has established a large team that will work together with Chinese scientists to analyze the origin of the virus. This virus lived in animals and at some point passed to humans. It's hard to say when and where this happened. It's being investigated. Viruses can be found in wastewater. But nothing can be said specifically," Vujnovic told RIA Novosti news agency.
Recently, another study conducted by researchers at the University of Barcelona found the presence of coronavirus traces in wastewater samples as early as March 2019. In the wake of these findings, Tom Jefferson, an Honorary Senior Research Fellow from Oxford University's Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine, also believes that the deadly pathogen might have remained dormant for months before evolving itself as a global pandemic.
"We may be seeing a dormant virus that has been activated by environmental conditions. The explanation for this could only be that these agents don't come or go anywhere. They are always here and something ignites them, maybe human density or environmental conditions, and this is what we should be looking for," Jefferson told the Telegraph.
Coronavirus Mutation Creates Worries
A recent study conducted by experts at Zhejiang University had found that COVID-19 has already mutated into more than 30 different strains. The study report literally shocked medical experts, and they now believe that the global healthcare sector has underestimated the mutating capabilities of this deadly pathogen.
As different strains of coronavirus have affected people in different parts of the world, medical experts argue that it could be difficult to find an overall cure for the virus in the near future.
