Guest: Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead for the COVID-19 response at the World Health Organization

It’s been four years since the first human COVID-19 case emerged in Wuhan, China. Since then, the disease has gone on to kill an estimated 15 million people, infect more than 750 million and upend the lives of countless more. A scientific consensus has emerged among many of the world’s top virologists about how it most likely spread to humans — from wildlife sold at the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan — but to date a culprit animal has not been found. Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead for the COVID-19 response at the World Health Organization, talks about what we do and do not know about the virus’ origins and why finding the source is so important for how we respond to future pandemics.

This podcast was produced by Kenyon Wallace, Julia De Laurentiis Johnston and Paolo Marques.

Audio Sources: NBC

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