The Prequel
Although it looked like a local problem that was born in Wuhan, China, the new form of the
coronavirus Covid-19 spread like wildfire across the globe. The total number of coronavirus cases
is nearing 3 million (April 24, 2020) and unfortunately, the death toll is almost 200,000.
The virus is thought to have originated in a wet market in Wuhan. Wet markets are popular and
common in East and Southeast Asia. The problem is not the market itself but the vendors that sell
live wildlife for human consumption. Covid-19 is theorized to have been transferred from bats to
pangolins, and from pangolins to humans via consumption.
Consumption of wildlife, or bush meat, occurred in China historically. However, the Great Leap
Forward years saw mass starvation of people and causing somewhere between 16 and 45 million
deaths. During this period people ate anything they found like sawdust, soil, and rotting meat.
Dogs, cats, and even the national gem the giant panda were eaten. Also, some animals were seen
as pests such as the sparrows, and these birds were decimated which later on brought large numbers
of vermin eating the crops (swarajyamag.com). The great famine years made people realize that
these methods were not sustainable.
Yazar
