In February 2022, researchers at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention published a long-delayed analysis of genetic traces of the earliest environmental samples collected at the market two years earlier. "None of this could have been done without FAVITES," said Wertheim. They used a technique called molecular clock analysis and an epidemic simulation tool called FAVITES, invented by Wertheim team member Niema Moshiri, PhD, an assistant professor of computer science at Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego and study co-author. Researchers arrived at this conclusion by deciphering the evolutionary rate of viral genomes to deduce whether or not the two lineages diverged from a single common ancestor in humans. Both strains were present at the market simultaneously.
Rather, the first zoonotic transmission likely occurred with lineage B viruses in late-November 2019 while the introduction of lineage A into humans likely occurred within weeks of the first event. If the viruses in lineage A evolved from those in lineage B, or vice versa, Wertheim said this would suggest SARS-CoV-2 jumped only once from animals to humans.īut work by Wertheim and collaborators found that the earliest SARS-CoV-2 genomes were inconsistent with a single zoonotic jump into humans. Lineage A spread within China, and included samples from people pinpointed only to the vicinity the market. Lineage B, which included samples from people who worked at and visited the market, became globally dominant. "I think there's been consensus that this virus did in fact come from the Huanan Market, but a strong case for multiple introductions hasn't been made by anyone else yet," said Wertheim, senior author of the study that posits the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, jumped from animals to humans at least twice and perhaps as many as two dozen times.Īccording to researchers, two evolutionary branches of the virus were present early in the pandemic, differentiated only by two differences in nucleotides - the basic building blocks of DNA and RNA. Wertheim, PhD, associate professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health at UC San Diego School of Medicine, and a co-author on both papersīut elemental to understanding pandemic origins is pinpointing not just where, but how, a pathogen successfully jumps from a non-human animal host to human, known as a zoonotic event. It's vital that we know as much about the origin of COVID-19 as possible because only by understanding how pandemics get started can we hope to prevent them in the future." The World Health Organization estimates that there have been more than 566 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide and 6.3 million deaths since the pandemic was declared in early 2020. The findings, first reported in February after the papers were posted online as preprints awaiting peer review, garnered international attention, primarily focusing on identifying the market as the early epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. In a pair of related studies, published Jonline via First Release in Science, researchers at University of California San Diego, with colleagues on four continents, show that the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019 was at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, China, and resulted from at least two instances of the SARS-CoV-2 virus jumping from live animal hosts to humans working or shopping there. The day is also observed on multiple dates all across the world.Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.
In South Africa, Friendship Day is celebrated on April 16, while Ukrainians celebrate it on June 9. In nations like Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, Mexico, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic, Valentine's Day and Friendship Day are celebrated on February 14. Hence, friendship is necessary to address the core causes of those crises and challenges. Promoting and upholding a familiar spirit of human solidarity, which manifests in several ways but the most basic is friendship.
Poverty, violence and human rights violation are only a few of the difficulties, crises and dividing factors that threaten global peace, security, development and social harmony. United Nations, can contribute to advancing world peace and social harmony. The International Day of Friendship, according to the Before it, the Greeting Card National Association tried to promote the concept in 1920, using the friendship day celebration as a marketing strategy to boost sales of their greeting cards. It came from a person calledĪugust 2, 1930. The idea for the first-ever friendship day came even before the World Friendship Crusade's proposal. 1958, and the United Nations General Assembly officially declared the International Day of Friendship in 2011.įirst Sunday in August is also celebrated as Friendship Day in several other nations besides India.