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A team of researchers from the University of Cambridge has revealed that climate change could have played a direct role in the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 which caused the deadly coronavirus pandemic.
The study, which was published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, found large-scale changes in the type of vegetation in the southern province of China called Yunnan, as well as in parts of Myanmar and from Laos.
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Climate changes such as increased temperature, sunlight, and atmospheric carbon dioxide have led to depletion of plant and tree growth and also changed the natural habitats from tropical shrubs to tropical savannah. and deciduous wood.
This, according to the researchers, has led to a suitable environment for many species of bats found in the forests. Research also claimed that the number of coronaviruses is also linked to the number of bat species present in the region.
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“Climate change over the past century has made the habitat of Yunnan province in southern China suitable for more bat species,” said Robert Beyer, a researcher at the University of Cambridge and first author of the study. “Understanding how the global distribution of bat species has changed due to climate change may be an important step in reconstructing the origin of the Covid-19 epidemic.”
With a change in habitats, some species have traveled from place to place and taken their viruses with them and may also have initiated changes to existing viruses, leading to more dangerous viruses, such as the coronavirus.
“As climate change altered habitats, species left some areas and moved to others – taking their viruses with them. This not only changed the regions where viruses are present, but most likely allowed new interactions between animals and viruses, causing viruses to be transmitted or evolve, ”Beyer said.
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