Understanding the Origins of COVID-19: Why it matters to global health
By Francesca Battelli
This post is part of a series of opinion pieces in diverse mediums focusing on the theme “What makes you mad about global health?” These submissions are by McGill students who were part of the course PPHS 511 Fundamentals of Global Health in Fall 2021.
In early December 2019, the first human cases of a novel coronavirus infection surfaced in Wuhan, China. Chinese officials did not alert the World Health Organization (WHO) until January 3rd, 2020, a delay which violated International Health Regulations that require such outbreaks to be reported immediately. When they did acknowledge the outbreak, the Chinese government claimed to be completely unaware of the causative agent. In reality, Chinese scientists had already identified the virus as SARS-CoV-2 and sequenced its genome on December 27th, 2019, but kept it hidden until January 11, 2020. There has been a well-documented effort on the part of the Chinese government to censor coronavirus discourse in the first few weeks of its outbreak. These efforts include jailing journalists attempting to report on the novel coronavirus, censoring social media, and silencing medical professionals. This included strong punitive measures against the whistleblower Dr. Li Wenliang, who warned the medical community of the novel virus. Dr. Li died on February 7, 2021 from infection with COVID-19. There has also been a significant lack of cooperation with the international community in our quest to understand where the virus came from. WHO missions to China to investigate the novel coronavirus were inconclusive. No raw patient, experimental, or lab safety data has been provided and access to sites of interest, like major hospitals and BSL-4 laboratories, was denied. Current efforts to launch independent investigations were heavily rejected by Beijing. Understanding the biological origins of SARS-CoV-2 can help us stop the next pandemic, and any attempt by the government of China to stop this effort is dangerous to current and future global health security.
Scientific evidence suggests that the virus is of zoonotic origin, evolving naturally in bats and infecting humans through an intermediate host in a spillover event. The exact mechanism by which this occurred would tell us more about the evolutionary dynamics of coronaviruses and would enhance surveillance in animal reservoirs. We would likely see an increase in One Health funding for research that focuses on tracking novel viruses in the wild and would be more likely to respond to early warning signs, similar to the ones that were ignored for SARS-CoV-2. Epidemiological data traces the earliest reported cases of COVID-19 back to the Huanan Market, a hub of the illegal animal trade. Notably, SARS and MERS were also caused by novel coronaviruses that emerged from animal hosts. Confirming the zoonotic origin of SARS-CoV-2 would help curb human behaviors that are risk factors for spillover events, like wildlife trading, deforestation and land use change, and bat tourism.
A less substantiated but still plausible theory for the origin of SARS-CoV-2 is accidental release from a laboratory. Concerns of this nature are fueled by reports of inadequate laboratory safety, risky experiments, and secrecy from the Wuhan Institute of Virology and others. While initially considered extremely unlikely by the scientific community, the Director-General of the WHO Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus later stated that “all hypotheses are on the table”. If correct, this theory could change the way dangerous pathogens are handled. Either way, it reflects a general anxiety over high-risk research and a lack of trust in international oversight systems. The world would benefit from updating biosafety measures and strengthening our reporting system for laboratory mistakes without the fear of punishment or retaliation, because accidental infections have occurred in the past and could still occur in the future. Hence, it is vital that Chinese authorities make data that could confirm or rule out a laboratory leak available. This information would also help the World Health Assembly’s ongoing effort to draft a pandemic treaty, which will strengthen global health security.
Let it be known that the actions of a government are not the actions of a people. When the discourse shifts away from government accountability and pure science, only hatred and racism are bred, and the quest for truth is cast aside. It is for this exact reason that we must analyze what went wrong from an evidence-based perspective and criticize it with the sole intention of correcting errors for a better future. Global solidarity is key in this endeavor. As such, the lack of transparency and collaboration from China’s government is unethical, and its behavior sets a dangerous precedent for other countries who may experience similar outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases. China’s government must unite with the international community to provide a better understanding of the COVID-19 pandemic, which would both help the current response and prevent future catastrophes.
About the Author
Francesca Battelli is a fourth-year undergraduate student at McGill University studying Microbiology and Immunology and minoring in Health Geography. Her current research is in parasitology, focusing on the development of novel vaccines for human schistosomiasis and the prevalence of human toxocariasis in Canada and Québec. Her interests include biodefense, emerging infectious diseases, and global health security.
Acknowledgments:
We would like to thank Professor Madhukar Pai for setting and sharing this assignment results with us and the teaching assistants Alexandra Jaye Zimmer, Lavanya Huria and Angie Sassi for their support in coordinating the results.