The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic now has nearly four million confirmed cases worldwide with an increasing death toll. Though a few countries have seemingly controlled the spread of the infection, health experts have noted a resurgence of the virus merely a few days after easing of pandemic-related restrictions in countries such as Denmark and China.
The reason the novel coronavirus or SARS-CoV-2 is more difficult to control than previous viruses is because there is limited research on its behavior and functioning.
Therefore, scientists are not able to predict when the health crisis is likely to end or when will there be a treatment or a vaccine that can help control its spread.
While researchers around the world are involved in trials and research for finding a potential cure for the coronavirus infection, there have also been some questions regarding the origin of SARS-CoV-2.
For instance, common people, as well as officials from governments of different countries, have raised questions such as how did the coronavirus start.
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Previously, there has been much controversy regarding this specific question. A few weeks ago, some sources had claimed that the SARS-CoV-2 virus was artificially made by Chinese researchers at Wuhan Lab and leaked it accidentally during its testing on bats.
The reports spread around the world and gained even more attention after the president of the United States, Donald Trump, along with a few US government officials stated that they had evidence to show the coronavirus was made by Chinese scientists themselves.
Furthermore, people then also started asking questions including when did the coronavirus start in the US or how did it even reach the country from China.
However, the World Health Organization soon released a statement to tackle all such theories regarding the spread of and making of SARS-CoV-2, saying that neither had they found any proof nor has the US government provided any solid evidence.
Moreover, the health experts at the WHO also added that anyone or any country is welcome to provide evidence if there exists any at all.
So, how did the coronavirus start? According to scientific research, the virus was transmitted from bats to humans, possibly through an intermediate animal such as the pangolin.
Previous studies have indicated that other coronaviruses have displayed similar behaviors before and have also seen to come from animals. In addition, the DNA sequences tested by scientists further confirmed that SARS-CoV-2 cannot be man-made by anyone.
For questions such as when did the coronavirus start in the US, the answer can be simply found by looking at incoming travelers prior to the imposed restrictions in the US. The first case of the COVID-19 was diagnosed in late early February.
The first case did not gain a lot of attention since the man was diagnosed at an early stage of the infection and was isolated for treatment immediately.
Local health authorities had reported that the case does not necessarily mean there will be a wave of COVID-19 in the US as all major airports in the country are being screened.
The lack of action taken by the US government in response to the first few cases of SARS-CoV-2 is said to be one of the primary reasons why the country is the worst-hit today with over sixty thousand deaths and more than a million confirmed cases of COVID-19.
At the moment, more importance should be given to steps taken for the prevention and spread of COVID-19 including tracing and treatment measures taken by governments as well as efforts by the people themselves.
The pandemic will only end once there is enough collective effort and the SARS-CoV-2 virus has been controlled in all the affected countries.
