The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday launched an adept radical that volition analyse the origins of new pathogens, including SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
The projected members of the WHO Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO) were selected for their expertise successful areas specified arsenic epidemiology, carnal health, objective medicine, virology and genomics.
WHO main Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced the quality during his regular briefing from Geneva.
“SAGO volition counsel WHO connected the improvement of a planetary model to specify and usher studies into the origins of emerging and re-emerging pathogens with epidemic and pandemic potential, including SARS-CoV-2,” helium said.
“The emergence of caller viruses with the imaginable to spark epidemics and pandemics is simply a information of nature, and portion SARS-CoV-2 is the latest specified virus, it volition not beryllium the last.”
Next ‘Disease X’
The 26 scientists travel from respective countries, and were selected from implicit 700 applications pursuing a planetary call.
A two-week nationalist consultation play volition instrumentality spot for WHO to person feedback connected the projected SAGO members.
Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO Technical Lead connected COVID-19, said the satellite indispensable beryllium amended prepared for immoderate aboriginal “Disease X”.
Responding to a journalist’s question, she anticipated that SAGO volition urge further studies successful China, and perchance elsewhere, to recognize the origins of the caller coronavirus.
While SAGO volition counsel WHO, immoderate aboriginal missions volition beryllium organized by the UN bureau and the state successful question.
“I privation to marque it precise wide that the SAGO is not the adjacent ngo team. There’s been immoderate misrepresentation astir that going forward,” she said.
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