The pandemic caused by the spread of the coronavirus worldwide has unleashed multiple investigations that seek to understand how it spread so quickly, its origin, among other things.
One of those investigations, one of the most recent, points to the fact that in different frozen pangolin remains that were seized by the authorities between 2018 and 2019, two variants of coronaviruses were found, 85.5 and 92.4% similar to the current epidemic of COVID- 19.
So far, it is not clear which animal “infected” the human with this coronavirus strain.
This analysis was carried out by a group of Chinese researchers and was published in the journal Nature.
Research suggests that one of the new viruses appeared in samples from five animals, from 18 specimens of the Malayan pangolin.
The pangolin is in danger of extinction. In some Chinese markets, where they sell animals to eat, copies of this type have been found. In fact, although it is prohibited to traffic the animal, in some rural populations they use it, even as a medicinal ingredient.
One of the theories around COVID-19 is that it comes from bats and pangolins.
