The novel coronavirus and humans: who can dominate who?

Abstract

Life may have first arisen on Earth billions of years ago in the form of viruses, which have had a significant influence on the evolution of all living creatures, including human beings. Some scientists believe that up to 8% of the human genome is derived from viruses, which are simple, primitive organisms with a variety of different shapes and sizes. Countless undiscovered viruses can exist within the human body and co-evolve with human beings. Some are pathogenic, but most do not harm humans. The human body is such a complex organism system that it can host bacteria, fungi, and viruses; humans can also engage in high-level thinking and create civilizations. In contrast, viruses are such simple organisms that they consist solely of genetic material (DNA or RNA) and a protective protein capsid, and as such are often overlooked. Both viruses and humans evolve to adapt to changes in their environment. Sometimes they are in conflict with each other, while sometimes they coexist peacefully. However, new conflicts between viruses and humans always arise, which begs the question of who will win: humans or viruses? Several viral pandemics have affected humans over the course of history, such as the influenza pandemic of 1918, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003, bird flu in 2013, Ebola in 2014, and the novel coronavirus in 2019. Humans have never succumbed to these viruses, but have risen to the challenge of combatting them, including the novel coronavirus. The novel coronavirus is less lethal than smallpox and Ebola but is extremely infectious. Moreover, it has a single-stranded RNA genome, which makes it particularly likely to acquire mutations during a large-scale epidemic. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has done considerable damage to the human world. Prof. He, a renowned and brilliant geneticist, has made the following comments