How the coronavirus started remains a burning question. But the answer most favoured by the Chinese regime raises even deeper questions about the role played by traditional medicine in the growth of the country's global influence

A pangolin. (Image: Adobe)

The jury is still out on the origins of COVID-19, also known as SARS-CoV-2 virus.

What is known is that a new form of corona virus crossed over from animal to human hosts in Wuhan over the final weeks or months of 2019, before galloping across the province of Hubei in December to reach epidemic proportions in China later in January and then spreading internationally at remarkable speed.

By the time the World Health Organisation (WHO) confirmed a global pandemic on March 11 2020, the thing had bolted.