COVID-19 Is ¡®Tip Of The Iceberg¡¯ Of Unknown Killer Viruses, Warns China's ¡®Bat Woman¡¯ Scientist

A Chinese scientist who was the first in the world to discover the gene sequence for COVID-19 issued a chilling public prediction on the risk of future diseases, apart from the current coronavirus pandemic.

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The scientist dubbed ¡®Batwoman¡¯ of Wuhan by her colleagues after years of virus-hunting expeditions in bat caves, Shi Zhengli warned that the wildlife trade of bats, civets, and other animals was a recipe for disaster.

Virologist Shi is the woman credited with unlocking Covid-19's genetic code within days after the outbreak first seemed to come to the public's attention.

The warning

A few years ago she was a co-author of a paper that contained a public warning that the SARS virus outbreak ¡°heralded a new era in the cross-species transmission of severe respiratory illness with globalisation leading to rapid spread around the world and massive economic impact.¡±

¡°Although public health measures were able to stop the SARS-CoV outbreak, recent metagenomics studies have identified sequences of closely related SARS-like viruses circulating in Chinese bat populations that may pose a future threat," the paper states.

Shi Zhengli warns that the deadly coronavirus surfacing now is ¡°just the tip of the iceberg¡± in terms of what humans may soon face without a global effort to prevent similar infectious outbreaks.

Shi, who is the deputy director at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, was one of three experts to pen the disturbing report.

It analysed the three previous coronavirus outbreaks - SARS, MERS and Swine Flu - and looked at how likely another pandemic was. The report also warned of the risks of China's wet markets.

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It said: "Chinese food culture maintains that live slaughtered animals are more nutritious, and this belief may enhance viral transmission."

¡°If we want to prevent human beings from suffering from the next infectious-disease outbreak, we must go in advance to learn of these unknown viruses carried by wild animals in nature and give early warnings,¡± Shi Zhengli, a top Chinese scientist specializing in viral transmissions from bats, told CGTN in an interview . She added that it is 'very regrettable' when science is politicised.

War of words

The Wuhan lab where Shi is the deputy director, has been suspected of accidentally leaking the virus on humans. China also has been accused of not coming clean on the danger.

Intelligence services reportedly believe evidence of the virus was destroyed in labs and requests to provide live samples to international scientists working on a vaccine were refused.

Wuhan Lab/AFP

Dr Shi is now at the centre of a diplomatic war of words between the US and China, over claims that the Chinese government 'covered up' COVID-19.

Dr Shi insists this is not possible because the genetic code of COVID-19 does not match the coronaviruses her team were working on.

Wang Yanyi, the director of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, has said that the accusations that the virus originated from the lab in Wuhan are 'pure fabrication'.