Summary of Alina Chan and Matt Ridley’s Viral

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

Book Preview:Viral: The Search for the Origin of COVID-19 (2021) explores

the possible origin of the COVID-19 pandemic. Co-authors

Alina Chan and Matt Ridley examine both the lab leak and

natural origin theories while making clear that more

research is needed to prevent such occurrences from

happening again. They provide a transparent and

comprehensive account of the events that have taken place

during the world's search for the origins of COVID-19. Did

SARS-Cov-2 accidentally leak from a lab in Wuhan, China?

Did a natural spillover transmit the virus from animals to

humans? The natural origin theory has been the default

assumption thus far, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s

the truth.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Feb 3, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669345190

IRB Media

With IRB books, you can get the key takeaways and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.

Book preview

Summary of Alina Chan and Matt Ridley’s  Viral

Overview

Viral: The Search for the Origin of COVID-19 (2021)  explores the possible origin of the COVID-19 pandemic. Co-authors Alina Chan and Matt Ridley examine both the lab leak and natural origin theories while making clear that more research is needed to prevent such occurrences from happening again. They provide a transparent and comprehensive account of the events that have taken place during the world's search for the origins of COVID-19. Did  SARS-Cov-2 accidentally leak from a lab in Wuhan, China? Did a natural spillover transmit the virus from animals to humans? The natural origin theory has been the default assumption thus far, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the truth.

A Mystery

The origins of the Covid-19 pandemic may be the most perplexing conundrum of our time. The virus has sickened and killed millions of people and drastically altered the lives of practically everyone on earth.

Identifying the source of the virus is important, not to assign blame, but to prevent future outbreaks. If we don't figure out how this pandemic started, we won't know when, where, or how the next one may start.

According to some scientific observations, the virus was evolving slowly compared to other viruses newly arrived in the human species from another animal. Thus, it seemed that SARS-CoV-2 had already pre-adapted to human transmission by the time it was first discovered in late 2019. This suggests that the source was most likely not the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan, despite suspicions of it. Rather, it seems that a person, not an animal, brought the virus to the market. The virus might have become well adapted to humans as a result of spending time in human cells or a humanized animal, such as mice that have been engrafted with human cells or genes, in a laboratory.

Miners and Bats

Six men