While the debate about the origins of the novel coronavirus continues to rage, researchers around the world are still on the hunt for clues. In Cambodia, the focus is on bats.
This week, Reuters reported that a group of scientists have been looking for more insights on the coronavirus in a northern region of Cambodia. In particular, the researchers from the Institut Pasteur du Cambodge (IPC) have zeroed in on a part of the country where a similar coronavirus was discovered in 2010. Now, the IPC group is collecting samples from bats in the region and logging data that they hope will help uncover the origins of the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. The group says it also hopes to better understand how the wildlife trade in Asia is playing a part in the potential spread of new viruses.
According to Reuters, another group of researchers is conducting similar work in the Philippines.
In the U.S., investigations into the origin of the novel coronavirus have remained inconclusive. Although one U.S. intelligence review ruled out the possibility that the virus was man-made, a recent report said that the intelligence community is still divided on whether or not the virus emerged from a lab or from natural exposure.
A few weeks ago, a group of WHO scientists tasked with studying the origins of the coronavirus warned that the window for collecting crucial evidence is closing, and noted that many wildlife farms in China that could provide clues have been closed and that potentially related animals have been killed.
On Face the Nation last weekend, former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said we may never know for sure how the novel virus emerged.
"Either we find the intermediate host — the animal that spread COVID — or there's a whistleblower inside China. Or someone close to this, who knows that this came out of a lab, comes forward, defects, goes overseas, or we intercept some communication that we shouldn't have had access to. Absent something like that, we're not going to be able to answer this question,” Gottlieb said.
