Consideration of COVID-19 beyond the human-centred approach of prevention and control: the ONE-HEALTH perspective

Abstract

Most of the new emerging and re-emerging zoonotic virus outbreaks in recent years stem from close interaction with dead or alive infected animals. Since late 2019, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread into 221 countries and territories resulting in close to 300 million known infections and 5.4 million deaths in addition to a huge impact on both public health and the world economy. This paper reviews the COVID-19 prevalence in animals, raise concerns about animal welfare and discusses the role of environment in the transmission of COVID-19. Attention is drawn to the One Health concept as it emphasizes the environment in connection with the risk of transmission and establishment of diseases shared between animals and humans. Considering the importance of One Health for an effective response to the dissemination of infections of pandemic character, some unsettled issues with respect to COVID-19 are highlighted.

Collective activities of the Thai Coordinating Unit for One Health (CUOH): Past activities and future directions

“…The COVID-19 pandemic is a One Health issue as SARS-CoV-2 is of animal–likely–origin [ 26 ] and is found in environmental samples [ 27 ]. To prepare for future pandemics, the CUOH should solicit increased participation in meetings from organizations from the environmental sector and incorporate additional environmental components, early detection, and prevention of potentially zoonotic viruses into future activities [ 28 , 29 ]. This will require national and international collaboration to work jointly under a One Health approach.…”

COVID-19 and One Health: potential role of human and animals in SARS-CoV-2 life cycle

“…Accordingly, the discernment of animal welfare can play an important role in the cycle of human diseases (e.g. COVID-19), to present prophylactic approaches aimed at ‘One Health’ and not only human health [ 39 ]. Although there are some literatures describing the effects of natural and experimental viral infection in several animal species, the essential aspects of such, their involvement in viral mutations, the emergence of new variants/lineages and the role of the animal host species is still inadequately defined.…”

The rapid and efficient strategy for SARS-CoV-2 Omicron transmission control: analysis of outbreaks at the city level

“…At this stage, large-scale and powerful interventions need to be actively implemented at the beginning of community transmissions during an outbreak as they can successfully deal with highly transmissible infectious diseases within a short period. In addition, the COVID-19 crisis has exposed major weaknesses in health system and social management system [45,51], a change in health-care framework is needed to improve pandemic prevention [51,52]. Hence, One Health approach, it has been suggested to address complex global health problems at the human-animal-environment interface, coupled with inter-and trans-disciplinary involvement, that makes broader contributions to achieve optimal public health outcomes by monitoring and managing the interactions between humans, animals, and their environment, it can provide service for formulating policies to promote the prevention and control of emerging infectious diseases [45,51].…”