As the world is battling the Covid pandemic with strict lockdown measures and vaccination drive, a new study report has suggested that another pandemic could also hit the world. According to the study report, hundreds of thousands of people may be infected annually by animals carrying coronaviruses. However, most of these infections go unnoticed as they cause mild or no symptoms and aren't easily transmitted between people.
Another pandemic could hit earth
The study report suggests that there could be at least 4,00,000 such infections every year. The research carried out by experts at EcoHealth Alliance and Singapore's Duke-NUS Medical School revealed that each of these spillover events actually provides an opportunity for viral adaptation, which could result in another pandemic outbreak.
During the study, researchers also tried to determine the geographical regions where coronavirus-like infections could attack people. According to researchers, bats are the main host animals for viruses like SARS-CoV-2, and people living near their roosts are widely considered vulnerable to infection.
"Given the challenges of identifying the origins of Covid-19 and pathways by which SARS-CoV-2 spilled over to people, this approach may also aid efforts to identify the geographic sites where spillover first occurred," researchers wrote in their study report.
Covid pandemic: Latest updates
In the meantime, the global caseload has topped 228.4 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 4.69 million. According to the latest updates, India reported more than 30,000 fresh Covid cases in the last 24 hours.
The United Kingdom is also facing the heat of the Covid pandemic. In the last 24 hours, the UK witnessed more than 29,000 fresh cases, thus bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 7,429,746. The country also recorded another 56 coronavirus-related deaths.
