Zoonotic diseases originate when a microbe makes a jump from animals to humans. Such leaps (like those shown by Covid-19; SARS, MERS and even influenza) are more likely to occur in poorer parts of the world, where people live in close association with animals (both domesticated and wild). A UN report (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/06/coronavirus-world-treating-symptoms-not-cause-pandemics-un-report) claims that "the world is treating the health and economic symptoms of the coronavirus pandemic but not the environmental cause". The main drivers of new zoonotic diseases are destruction of nature (more or less forcing the disease agent to seek new hosts) and the human obsession with meat (putting potentially infective organisms into our mouths). Even without the current pandemic, some 2 million people (mostly in poorer countries) die per year from zoonotics. These diseases cause, however, bigger economic 'hits' in richer parts of the world. The authors of the report maintain that rich nations would benefit, in both health and economic terms, if they invested money to limit the causes of zoonotic diseases. They claim that, if we (Homo sapiens), "keep exploiting wildlife and destroying ecosystems, then we can expect to see a steady stream of these diseases jumping from animals to humans". I would add, that we should also focus on the rearing of animals for meat in locations across the globe.
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