Each Thursday, the World Health Organization arranges a video conference of nearly 100 scientists, regulators, and funders who are collectively working with a menagerie of lab animals, including mice, ferrets, and several species of monkeys. 

The group swaps the latest data and tips, such as the efficiency of different infection routes and the most likely places to find the pathogen in animals. 

As they haven't found a “proper animal model” yet, scientists started engineering mice and rats to enable the receptors to contract the virus. However, these genetically altered species still do not express the same symptoms as humans do when contaminated.