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SC-HASS Research Project: The impact of COVID-19 on Antarctica


COVID 19 WP5 king and chick webAbout:

This team aims to assess the potential risk of reverse-zoonotic transmission to Antarctic wildlife and to determine how the expected reduction of human activity in Antarctica due to COVID-19 can affect Antarctic wildlife.

Research questions:
  1. What is the risk of introducing SARS-CoV-2 to Antarctica?
  2. What is the stability and infectivity of the virus in the Antarctic environment?
  3. How susceptible is Antarctic wildlife to SARS-CoV-2?
Researchers:

Andres Barbosa (Co-Lead)
Meagan Dewar (Co-Lead)

Outputs:

Barbosa, A., Varsani, A., Morandini, V., Grimaldi, W., Vanstreels, R.E.T., Diaz, J., Boulinier, T., Dewar, M., González-Acuña, D., Gray, R., McMahon, C.R., Miller, G., Power, M., Gamble, A., Wille, M. (2020). Risk Assessment of SARS-CoV-2 in Antarctic Wildlife. Science of the Total Environment (accepted). doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143352

SCAR EG-BAMM, Polar Wildlife Health online webinar, 20 October 2020.

Barbosa, A. (2020): "La Antártida: la última frontera para la pandemia." The Conversation, 29 December 2020.

Power, M. and M. Dewar (2021). "COVID has reached Antarctica. Scientists are extremely concerned for its wildlife." The Conversation, 11 February 2021.

Barbosa A. (2021): "COVID-19 and polar research." Invited talk given at XII APECS Portugal, 30th November, in Porto, Portugal.