An Expert Said That Another Coronavirus Will Hit Us Again Within the Next 10 Years

We’re not even over Covid-19 yet.

In fact, as many people have said, there’s still a long way to go.

Yet, we’re now hearing that we could be hit by another coronavirus within the next 10 years.

Yes, what.

An Expert Said That Another Coronavirus Will Hit Us Again Within the Next 10 Years

This is Professor Wang Linfa.

He’s the director of the Programme in Emerging Infectious Diseases at Duke-NUS Medical School and has correctly predicted the existence of Covid-19 previously.

Back in Dec 2013, after Mers appeared in Saudi Arabia, Professor Wang had warned that a new coronavirus that will jump from animals to humans will appear within a decade.

On 7 Jul 2020, it was reported that he had warned about a new coronavirus jumping from animals to humans within the next decade when speaking at the Covid-19: Biomedical Insights Into An Evolving Epidemic webinar.

It’s not about whether it will happen, he said, it’s about “when” it’ll happen and “how bad it will be”.

He pointed out that a coronavirus spillover is certain to happen.

Pit Stop: What The Heck Is Coronavirus Spillover

Here’s the official definition:

“Spillover event” is the term used to describe when a virus has overcome the many naturally occurring barriers necessary to “spill over” from one species to another.

Here’s a simple visualisation.

The virus is a ball and there is a huge wall between houses A (a bat’s body) and B (a sexy man’s body).

Normally, the ball will bounce off the wall and rebound back to house A.

However, when the ball managed to meet all the right factors (like bouncing high enough, getting thrown hard enough, etc), it could get over the wall and into the human body.

You can find out more here.

So when the professor Wang said that there will be spillover for sure, he simply meant there will be another virus that can jump from animals to humans.

Jumping Back & Forth

Another factor to a comeback, he said, could be the virus jumping back into animals, and then getting transmitted back at a later date.

Pointing out that there are many bats in the Amazon, the bats could carry the virus “without symptoms” and transmit it to humans and other animals from time to time “if we are really unfortunate”.

More Community Cases Doesn’t Mean More Infection Rates

This is Associate Professor Alex Cook.

Another speaker at the webinar, he pointed out that the increasing number of Covid-19 cases in the community might not mean more transmission is happening.

Globally, he pointed out, the number of people who are infected by Covid-19 is ten times more than what is being reported.

This means, he says, that the increase in community cases could’ve been due to the increased number of testing that the authorities are conducting, instead of infection rates.

So What Happens If Another Coronavirus Hit?

If you’re panicking and thinking

Don’t.

Judging by the Covid-19 situation right now, it’s not going to end that fast.

Meaning that after we get through this, it’s likely that we’re going to be more prepared for the next incoming coronavirus.

Maybe.

Meanwhile, have you heard about China’s latest swine flu discovery?

Reader Bao: CAN YOU DON’T?!