Covid origins may be murky, but that it changed the world forever is indisputable

Newer investigations present two scenarios of where Covid originated: one being that the virus escaped, like a lab rat, from a biological warfare laboratory; the other placed its genesis at a market in Wuhan, China.

The pandemic can be traced back to December 2019, when a cluster of pneumonia cases of unknown origin was reported there.

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Early cases were linked to a wet market, the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, where live animals were sold alongside seafood. It was said that the virus leapt from animals to humans after the consumption of an infected bat. Precise origins may be murky still but that it changed the world forever, is indisputable.

Spread of Covid

By January 2020, Chinese authorities confirmed the outbreak was caused by a new coronavirus, later named Sars-CoV-2, a close relative of the Sars virus that emerged in 2002.

The rapid spread of Covid can be attributed to several factors, including the high transmissibility of the virus, global travel and delays in implementing effective containment measures.

By late January 2020, cases were reported in several countries outside of China, including Japan, South Korea, the US, and Europe.

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The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern on 30 January, 2020 and a pandemic on 11 March, 2020.

Covid became the Pied Piper with the population unwilling participants, the virus leading the world to an apparent and inevitable death. So it seemed at the time. Nobody was safe.

Variants

The virus also mutated and there were six shape shifts during the course of the first year. The original version was followed by the alpha variant that was first identified in the United Kingdom in September 2020.

It was found to be more transmissible than the original strain. It was associated with an increased risk of hospitalisation and slightly increased risk of death. New vaccines proved effective. Then came the beta variant and SA’s entry into the Covid hall of fame.

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It was first discovered here in May 2020, and also demonstrated increased transmissibility. The gamma emerged in Brazil in November of that year and shared some similar characteristics with Beta.

Delta started in India in December 2020 and became the dominant strain worldwide. It was associated with a higher risk of hospitalisation. SA science excelled when it identified omicron in November 2021.

It was characterised by a high number of mutations and raised fears about transmissibility, but its symptoms seemed meeker. Presently there are various sublineages and mutated mutations in circulation.