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Coronavirus remains a puzzle and an enigma for the scientific community

Amidst the global Covid-19 pandemic, serious researchers attempting to uncover the trajectory of the virus and its place of origin face a tsunami of misinformation that blurs the truth, generates a mountain of conspiracy theories, making it difficult to separate fact from fiction, myth from reality. A cold war is emerging as the US and China trade insults, hurl abuse, intensify trade barriers, and ramp up military threats. US President Donald Trump has promised to build a hypersonic nuclear missile to outmatch Russia and China. This emerging cold war could get red hot as the blame game intensifies as Covid-19 disappears from the political radar screen. Over the past 10 years, we were repeatedly warned by world-class medical institutions that a pandemic was long over due. We brazenly chose to ignore these reports in the face of compelling evidence. The coronavirus remains a puzzle and an enigma for the world scientific community as its origin is still unknown. Its eventual death toll could surpass one million victims.
As we hunker down in our bunkers, praying for the Covid-19 storm to become a distant memory, we are ignoring other potential lethal threats that are gathering momentum. -Farouk Araie, Johannesburg, South Africa