Amazon could be next virus hot zone: scientist

Sao Paulo (AFP) May 14, 2020

The next pandemic could come from the Amazon rainforest, warns Brazilian ecologist David Lapola, who says human encroachment on animals' habitats - a likely culprit in the coronavirus outbreak - is soaring there because of rampant deforestation. Researchers say the urbanization of once-wild areas contributes to the emergence of zoonotic diseases - those that pass from animals to humans.