Scientists uncover ancient coronavirus epidemic in East Asia
In a stunning breakthrough that has considerable implications for the current day, scientists have shown that a coronavirus epidemic ravaged East Asia 25,000 years ago. The study published in
Current Biology in June was titled, “An ancient viral epidemic involving host coronavirus interacting genes more than 20,000 years ago in East Asia.”
The research team was led by Yassine Souilmi, of the University of Adelaide Australian Centre of Ancient DNA, along with scientists based in the United States. The study highlights that a coronavirus similar to the SARS-CoV-2 currently ravaging the world, with 191 million people infected and claiming over 4.1 million lives, afflicted humanity many millennia ago.