Infographic：The origin of COVID-19 ?
【明報專訊】The World Health Organization (WHO) released a report on 30 March on the global tracing of COVID-19 origins. The origin of the virus is not confirmed yet, but we can still take a glimpse of the evidence and data.
◆How many COVID-19 cases were recorded before December 2019 in Wuhan, China?
0. The team found that among the 76,253 records of cases of respiratory conditions in October and November 2019 in Wuhan, none of them were caused by COVID-19 infection. However, the report says the possibility of transmission before December 2019 cannot be excluded.
◆How similar are the genetic sequence of a horseshoe bat(菊頭蝠) and the sequence of coronavirus?
96.2% similar, which is the closest known sequence to coronavirus. However, WHO can't conclude that horseshoe bats were the intermediate host of the coronavirus based on the current findings. The possible intermediate host remains elusive.
◆How many COVID-19 cases were recorded in December 2019 in Wuhan, China?
174.
◆Is it possible that coronavirus was introduced through a laboratory incident?
It is possible, but it is extremely unlikely. The report found that it is ''likely to very likely'' that the virus was introduced through an intermediate host.
■Glossary
respiratory (adj) 呼吸的
sequence (n) 排序
intermediate (adj) 中間的
elusive (adj) 難找的
[Smarties' Power English 第311期]
Comic：Martin Luther King, the fighter for equality
【明報專訊】The Smarties and Eason are on vacation in the U.S.A. “ MoMo: ... 詳情
