Lets first make the terminology clear, Coronavirus isn't the name of the Virus, it's a family of viruses which include Common Cold, MERS, SARS, COVID-19,  the last three of the four viruses shook the globe and were deadly pandemic. Though the COVID-19 has the least fatality rate among all viruses (around 3 percent) it's still the most deadly because all other corona viruses effected a total of less than 10,000 people world wide, and killed less than 1000 people. On the other hand the COVID-19 has already infected more than 1,00,000 people world wide and killed more than 3,500. The movement of this virus from one host to other is dramatically high. This virus especially effects people with weak immune systems or people who are already suffering from some illness.

COVID-19 Structure 


     Once this virus enters a hosts body, it attacks the lungs. The symptoms include a dry cough, high fever, runny nose, weakness and difficulty in breathing. The problem in confining this virus is the time required by humans to start showing symptoms, which is usually around 5-7 days. This makes airport screening very difficult. And once an infected person enters the country, it's only about time before he or she gets everyone infected. This is exactly what happened in South Korea. A old woman who returned from China showed no symptoms in the airport but later on ended up infecting 6,500 people in the country. The super fast rate of spreading and no vaccine either for the prevention or the cure is making it a global pandemic. The governments world wide are facing a shortage of masks and sanitizers. China being one of the biggest drug maker of some basic drugs is making its absence felt. The prices of essentials such as paracetamol rose up to around 100 percent. 

MERS Infection Map

Corona infection Map 


    The deadliest disease the world has ever experienced the BLACK PLAGUE, which wiped out one third of the world population in 1347, has also originated in China.  Now comes the question, Why do these deadly diseases originate from China.

     Lets focus on the hotspot, the origin of COVID-19, WUHAN wet market. What exactly happened here? For this lets get to the history of China first. China was struck by the worst of its famines in 1970, killing around 35 million people. The Communist party was losing the grip on the country. They then passed a new law, which would later dig the grave of the globe. The law simply stated

If you can bring yourself out of poverty, and save yourself from this famine anything you do is accepted

The numerous peasants who had nothing to eat started hunting wild animals like Snakes, Turtles, Bats, pangolins, they ate anything they could hunt kill and eat. This idea helped millions of people survive. Later when China got rid of the famine, the law wasn't struck down. The markets which usually sold Chicken, Pork and Beef started selling these wild animals. There were many instances where markets started from two or three wild animals and now they account to thousands. So what happens when you kill and eat wild animals.

27 of the first 41 cases have visited the Wuhan Market


     Human immune system is way underdeveloped than many wild animals which help them survive the harsh conditions of the wild. When a human kills an animal infected with this and comes in contact with these viruses directly, there is a one hundred percent chance that he dies and also infects many before dying. This is what exactly happened in Wuhan.

Exotic animals sold at Wuhanmarket

     It is believed by the scientists that a Pangolin in the market was bitten and infected by a Bat in the wild. On killing the Pangolin, the viruses got exposed and the butcher along with 27 other people were infected in the first known wave of the virus. But, before these people started showing their symptoms they have already infected thousands. The Chinese government immediately shut down all the wild life markets in China and imposed a ban on their consumption. But, this is not the first time this happened in China. The MERS pandemic of 2012 also originated in one such market of China, and it looks like they haven't learned their lessons. The wild animals are not consumed by a large section of the society, instead they are consumed by the rich and the powerful as tonic, body building and as sex enhancing products. 


The expected mode of transfer BAT - Pangolin - Human

     There has been a continuous opposition on these markets by its citizens and many international organisations. But, since these markets favour the rich and the powerful the government never really bothered to shun down the markets, which eventually led to what we are terrified about today, the COVID-19. Antibiotics have been developed way back in time, but its still a challenging task to synthesize Anti-viral compounds attributing to the continuous change in the virus structure by mutation. 

It is expected that there's going to be a huge impact on China's GDP growth, huge sanctions are also expected after the virus dies down. 



Credits : 

Why is China the source of so many diseases - VOX - Youtube 
What is Corona Virus - Guardian 
Inshorts