An animal called pangolin is now also being viewed with suspicion by scientists. The virus is said to have been found in the body of the animal, which was smuggled into the Chinese market and sold, which is "closely related" to Covid-19.
Pangolins are the world's most trafficked mammals.
As it is used as food, it is also used to make traditional medicine. There is a huge demand for pangolin skin fiber in the making of traditional Chinese medicine and their meat is also considered a delicacy in China.
University of Hong Kong researcher said. Tommy Lam says two types of coronavirus have been found in Malayan pangolins smuggled into China - related to human-to-human epidemics.
Scientists say in a study published in the journal Nature that caution should be exercised in dealing with these animals, and that the sale of animals such as pangolins to wildlife markets should be strictly prohibited in order to reduce the risk of a deadly disease like coronavirus spreading worldwide in the future.
They also say that more observations and tests are needed to understand the role of pangolins in the risk of disease transmission among humans.
"Although the role of pangolins as the direct 'host' of the SARS-Cove-Two outbreak needs to be further confirmed, the sale of these animals in the market should be strictly prohibited if such animal-to-human epidemics are to be prevented in the future," he said. Lam.
Bats also have coronavirus in their bodies, scientists say, and there are more similarities with the virus that infects humans. But it doesn't match the part - which helps the virus penetrate the cells of the human body.
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This means that wildlife contains viruses that can adapt to infecting humans, said co-researcher Edward Holmes of the University of Sydney.
"Bats must be related to coronavirus, maybe pangolin, but there is a strong possibility that other animals are involved," he says.
Exactly how the virus spread from one animal to another and from there to humans is still a mystery to scientists.
Most likely: Horseshoe bats and pangolins - two species of animals are involved, but the sequence of events is still unknown.
Dr. Lam says the discovery of the virus in a smuggled Malayan pangolin raises the question of how the virus got into the body of the pangolin. Did it come from nearby bats during trafficking - or did it occur in their natural habitat in Southeast Asia?
Animal conservationists say the international community should now put pressure on governments to stop illegal wildlife trafficking.
China, however, has taken steps to ban the consumption of wild meat after the outbreak of Covid Nineteen infection, and some such measures are being considered in Vietnam.
Andrew Cunningham, a professor at the Zoological Society in London, says it would not be right to draw conclusions from this study. In his words, the origin of Covid Nineteen is actually still unknown. Maybe it was a natural pangolin virus, or maybe it came from another animal when the pangolin was caught and killed.
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