The World Health Organization says that coronavirus can be transmitted between animals and humans.
WHO disclosed this in a report on its website.
The organization had code named the SARS-like virus – COVID-19, stressing that the virus was now a global emergency.
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WHO said that some experiment it carried out on some patients showed that they were infected from animals, but it added that a large chunk of the virus “circulating in animals that have not yet infected humans.”
“Coronaviruses are zoonotic, meaning they are transmitted between animals and people; and detailed investigations found that SARS-CoV was transmitted from civet cats to humans and MERS-CoV from dromedary camels to humans.”
A zoonotic disease is an infectious disease caused by bacteria, viruses and parasites that spread from animals (usually vertebrates) to humans.
“Coronaviruses (CoV) are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV),” WHO stated in the report.
WHO said that the symptoms of the virus include: fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties; pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and can lead to death.
The global health agency recommends that in a bid to address the menace, people should engage in regular hand washing, covering mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing, and thoroughly cooking meat and eggs
The World Health Organization is a specialised agency of the United Nations that is concerned with world public health.