COVID-19, Hendra and SARS: How scientists trace viruses through animals to their source

The first mission to Wuhan in search of the source of SARS-CoV-2 — the virus that causes COVID-19 — wrapped up this week.

More than a dozen experts from around the world, including epidemiologists, veterinarians, medical doctors and virologists, spent the past fortnight looking for clues to the virus’s origins.

Last night, at a press conference, World Health Organization food safety and animal diseases expert Peter Ben Embarek said the coronavirus is unlikely to have leaked from a Chinese lab, and most probably jumped to humans via an intermediary species.

And that fact-finding mission will be the first of quite a few, if previous outbreaks are anything to go by.

COVID-19 is the latest in a long line of zoonotic diseases — infections…