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The origins of Covid

The origins of Covid

How similar are the Covid strains?

More or Less · BBC Radio 4

June 19, 20218m 58s

Show Notes

To find out where a virus comes from, researchers compare it to other viruses to try to trace its origin. This leads to claims like SARS-CoV-2 is 91 or even 96% similar to other known viruses. But what does that really mean? Tim Harford talks to the virus ecologist Marilyn J Roossinck.