The global coronavirus pandemic “most likely” originated from an exotic wildlife corner at a market in the Chinese city of Wuhan, new research has suggested. The Covid-19 outbreak was first detected at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in December 2019.
According to the authors of a paper published on Thursday in Cell, an American peer-reviewed scientific journal, animals that are “plausible intermediate hosts” of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, were present at the exact site within the market that first cases of the disease were linked to.
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The research focused on samples collected by Chinese scientists in January 2020 from drains, cages, and the floor in the southwest corner of the market, where wild animals were known to be sold from a handful of stalls.
Among the species whose DNA was discovered were raccoon dog, masked palm civet, hoary bamboo rat, Amur hedgehog, Malayan porcupine, greater hog badger, and the Himalayan marmot.
Raccoon dogs are known to be susceptible to Covid-19 infections and to be able to transmit the virus, the authors noted.
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