COVID-19 comes from rhino horns.
The posts have been shared more than\xa02,000 times and include an image of what appear to be two rhino horns, along with the following statement: “It’s believed the corona virus is possibly caused due to the use of rhino horn.”, Former international cricket star\xa0Kevin Pietersen, an active campaigner in the fight to end rhino\xa0poaching, added some celebrity fuel to the fire by posting the meme on his verified Twitter account on January 26, 2020\xa0-- asking his 3,9 million followers to “PLS RT?!?!?!!” Please Retweet., The response was mixed and covered\xa0in this news report, with some praising Pietersen and\xa0assuming the intention was to further rhino conservation., Others, however, believed the misinformation was damaging to the conservation cause, especially without evidence to back up the claim., James Borrell, a research fellow and conservation scientist, replied: “You seriously want to spread this rubbish? Undermines pretty much everyone working towards evidence based conservation!”, "South Africa is home to the worlds largest population of\xa0rhino and for years has tried to combat rampant\xa0poaching. The animals horns are prized in the Far East where they are traded illegally for vast sums of money.", The novel coronavirus emerged from the central Chinese city of Wuhan in early December 2019, as reported by\xa0AFP here, but the exact source of the outbreak -- traced to a local "bush meat" market -- remains\xa0unknown., The World Health Organisation (WHO) says the virus, officially known as "2019-nCoV,"\xa0 is in the "family of viruses that include the common cold, and viruses such as SARS and MERS.", And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says\xa0public health officials were hard at work trying\xa0to identify the source of the 2019-nCoV., “Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses, some causing illness in people and others that circulate among animals, including camels, cats, and bats. Analysis of the genetic tree of this virus is ongoing to know the specific source of the virus.”, Researchers think the new virus probably came from bats, as the SARS virus did, with which it shares 80 percent of its genetic makeup, as reported by AFP here., , "On Monday, January 3, 2019, Chinas ambassador to South Africa, Lin Songtian added his voice to the debate over the origins of the virus.", “The source of infection from this new coronavirus up to today in Wuhan, has not been discovered, including by America, by all the countries in the world, the WHO as well, up to today did not discover where the infection came from,” said Songtian at a press briefing in Pretoria., , Even with the surrounding uncertainty of where the virus came from, it could not have been rhino horn, said pathologist and head of medical virology for the University of Stellenbosch, Professor Wolfgang Preiser., "Viruses need live cells, live organisms for themselves to replicate, so even the rhino horn as such, even if it’s still on the rhino, would not be able to be infected with the virus because the rhino horn is dead, it\s like our fingernails. A virus cannot grow in your fingernails,” said Preiser in a phone call with AFP., He added that by the time a horn is traded in the Far East, it has been detached for weeks, months or even years, making it even less viable\xa0as a host for\xa0infectious viruses., "There are a lot of rumours being spread, it\s many fools jumping on the bandwagon and I think they are doing a lot of harm by confusing people and confusing the message,” said Preiser., At least 425\xa0people have died since the outbreak began, with more than 20,400\xa0confirmed cases worldwide, as reported by AFP., , Copyright © AFP 2017-2020.  All rights reserved.  Users can access and consult this website and use the share features available for personal, private, and non-commercial purposes.  Any other use, in particular any reproduction, communication to the public or distribution of the content of this website, in whole or in part, for any other purpose and/or by any other means, without a specific licence agreement signed with AFP, is strictly prohibited.  The subject matter depicted or included via links within the Fact Checking content is provided to the extent necessary for correct understanding of the verification of the information concerned.  AFP has not obtained any rights from the authors or copyright owners of this third party content and shall incur no liability in this regard.  AFP and its logo are registered trademarks.
Not only is the source of the virus unknown, but the dead cells inside rhino horn also are incapable of keeping it alive | AFP Fact Check