To understand how viruses evolve, the 2009 H1N1 swine flu pandemic caused by Influenza virus offers a classic example of Influenza virus evolution by recombination. Apart from the Pig Influenza virus, the pig cells can be infected with the human and birds Influenza viruses at the same time. SARS CoV-2 – commonly referred to as the novel coronavirus – responsible for Covid-19, is the seventh coronavirus to infect human beings. What makes CoV-2 as the most dangerous pathogen is the ease of transmission and its severe complications which are like SARS and MERS. The study further highlighted several possible scenarios for the viral evolution including animal to human, human to human and accidental escape of mutants from cell cultures in BCL1/2 labs.

Source: The Express Tribune March 21, 2020 07:30 UTC