Work on the huge international study, which was published today, saw researchers test samples of animals that were sold at market stalls in Wuhan, China, in the months before the coronavirus outbreak
Coronavirus began life in a “wet market” – where there were infected animals – a major international study claimed.
Scientists rejected the populist theory that Covid was leaked from a laboratory, and insisted the virus started in the “wet market” in Wuhan, China. Genetic samples of animals that were sold at the market stalls in 2019 found traces of the Covid virus in some species.
Author of the study, Kristian Andersen from Scripps Research, said in the document: “This adds another layer to the accumulating evidence that all points to the same scenario: that infected animals were introduced into the market in mid to late November 2019, which sparked the pandemic.”
Researchers argue this is the first time scientists have pinpointed the animals that may have been responsible for transmission to humans. The raccoon dog, a fox-like animal common in East Asia, was suggested to be the biggest carrier of the virus.
Other animals such as masked palm civets, hoary bamboo rats, and Malayan porcupines were also found to be carrying Covid-19 before it spread to humans.
This is not a definitive list as many of the key animal species were cleared out from the market before the Chinese health team arrived, said Florence Débarre of the French National Centre for Scientific Research, who led the study.
The scientists note that many of the early cases in Wuhan, a city of 12 million people, were workers from the market. Debate has raged about the source of the pandemic that claimed seven million lives globally and more than 200,000 in the UK.
The alternative theory is that the pandemic was caused by a leak from one of the laboratories at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. This theory gained traction after the Director of the FBI Christopher Wray said the bureau believes Covid-19 “most likely” originated in a “Chinese government-controlled lab”.
President Biden failed to shut down the lab leak conspiracy after he ordered an investigation into the theory. Following the publication of this latest study scientists now insist that the pandemic did originate at the market as originally reported. The study is based on a new analysis of data released by the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
