Virus pandemic linked to destruction of wildlife and world’s ecosystems
Covid-19 is the latest example of how human impact on biodiverse areas and wildlife habitats is linked to the spread of infectious diseases.
After the novel coronavirus broke out in Wuhan, China in late December 2019, it didn’t take long for conspiracy theorists to claim it was manufactured in a nearby lab.
Scientific consensus, on the other hand, is that the virus — Sars-CoV-2 — is a zoonotic disease that jumped from animal to human. It most likely originated in a bat, possibly before passing through another mammal.
