Trump talks with Xi about coronavirus as Chinese scientists track possible outbreak origin to pangolins

By | February 7, 2020

President Trump spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping about the deadly coronavirus as officials look to determine its source and how to contain it.

“Just had a long and very good conversation by phone with President Xi of China. He is strong, sharp and powerfully focused on leading the counterattack on the Coronavirus,” Trump said in a Friday tweet morning. “He feels they are doing very well, even building hospitals in a matter of only days. Nothing is easy, but he will be successful, especially as the weather starts to warm & the virus hopefully becomes weaker, and then gone.”

“Great discipline is taking place in China, as President Xi strongly leads what will be a very successful operation. We are working closely with China to help!” the president added.

Chinese researchers said this week that the coronavirus outbreak, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, could have started with the pangolins, the only mammal in the world covered in scales. They are also the most highly trafficked mammal in the world and are in high demand in Asia for use in traditional Chinese medicine.

“This latest discovery will be of great significance for the prevention and control of the origin (of the virus),” South China Agricultural University said in a statement.

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Researchers think the virus could have gone from bats to humans via the pangolins in the Wuhan market where live animals are sold. China’s state-run news agency called the pangolins “the most likely intermediate host” as a strain of coronavirus linked to them had a 99% identical genome sequence.

The coronavirus death toll topped over 600 as Chinese officials reported over 3,000 new cases Thursday. So far, over 30,000 people have gotten the disease worldwide since the start of the outbreak, including in the United States.

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