The virus unravels

The hunt for the origin of coronavirus shows science, democracy and sense of inquiry can overcome politics, ideology and omerta codes

How do we explain the current state in the Covid pandemic?

Let’s put it this way. If you watch live cricket on Indian TV channels, you can’t miss that prolific perfume advertisement where a young man has his shirt blown away in a storm, exposing his well-muscled torso and a young woman, full female gaze, says: Your clothes are gone. But the fragrance remains.

Something of the sort has happened with the pandemic. The second wave has blown away. But what it has left behind is a stink, not a fragrance. Where did this monster virus come from? An animal