The global Wuhan pneumonia (novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19) outbreak has been prolonged for a year and has expanded again since the winter. The World health Organization (WHO) has finally sent a team to China to investigate the origin of the virus, but admits that “patient zero” may never be found.
The WHO technical director Maria Van Kerkhove recently pointed out at a press conference that “we need to be very careful about using the word ‘patient zero’, which stands for ‘the first initial case,’ but we may never find out who ‘patient zero’ is, and what we need to do is follow the science versus following the research.”
Kirchhoff also warned people to follow basic precautions, such as hand sanitizing, wearing masks and staying away from crowds, until the virus is fully contained. “People must be a part of the collective action to end the pandemic,” she said. “We must prevent ourselves from being infected, and if we do get infected, make sure the virus stops in us and is not allowed to spread to others.”
With mutated viruses now appearing in the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil, Kirchhoff said WHO needs to create a system to understand what each mutation means and what effect it will have on the behavior of the virus.
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