Figure 1.

Timeline for the emergence of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus‐2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) and its evolution and possible end outcome. The SARS‐CoV‐2 genome is closely related to the bat coronavirus. It crossed the interspecies barrier and was likely transmitted to animals in the live animal market in Wuhan, China. The live‐animal market subsequently transmitted the pathogen to humans through direct contact with the virus. Later, the virus acquired the ability of human‐to‐human transmission through droplets, and local and long‐distance travel by infected individuals led to a pandemic shortly thereafter. Chronic infection, colossal transmission, and vaccination, mounted a selection pressure on SARS‐CoV2 resulting in continuous viral evolution. This evolution continued until the virus reached maximum transmissibility, immune evasion, and low pathogenicity. Later in the evolution, the virus may act as an attenuated natural vaccine and protect most of the infected individuals, which may potentially lead to an end of the pandemic. The solid black arrow represents the confirmed transfer, whereas the dotted black arrow shows the possibility of viral transfer