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Continuing this research even after the current pandemic ends will be key to help prevent future outbreaks, she said.

After all, consider the discontinued research into SARS and MERS. If that work had resulted in effective drugs, we might have a treatment for COVID-19 today, she pointed out. Similarly, the work being done on SARS-CoV-2 could prove useful when future outbreaks hit, even if the pathogens causing them are slightly different.

“I hope one of the lessons that we have from this is that research should keep going even if the crisis goes away,” she said.

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