New pair of studies for coronavirus argue that the pandemic may have been the result of live animals sold on a Chinese wet market in Wuhan rather than the nearby Wuhan Institute of Virology.
The study, which has not yet been tested or published, says there is no support for the theory that COVID escaped from the Wuhan laboratory, despite growing calls for research into the theory after China thwarted efforts to uncover the killer’s origins. pathogen
The co-author of both studies is Michael Sparrow, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Arizonawho says the evidence is clear.
“When you look at all the evidence together, it’s a very clear picture that the pandemic started in the Juanan market,” Worobey told New York Times.
Worobey before signed the letter require more research on what is known as ‘laboratory leakage theory’ and is known by colleagues to have a ‘weak spot for wild theories’.
Michael Worobie, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Arizona
This general view shows the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan
Members of the Wuhan Hygiene Emergency Response Team leave the closed Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan
A map shows that the Wuhan laboratory is about 14 miles from the market
Researchers from the Worobey team analyzed data from a wide variety of sources to try to find an answer.
They concluded that the virus was present in live mammals sold on the Huanan seafood wholesale market in late 2019.
Studies show that the virus has probably spread twice to people who shop or work in this market.
Many of the initial cases of the virus appeared on the market, and by the end of 2019, hospitals in Wuhan had seen dozens of cases of what was then called viral pneumonia.
Chinese scientists at the time said they had found samples of the virus in surfaces and sewers on the market, but not in any of the animals, prompting people to be skeptical of the theory.
One new study led by Worobey shows that they believe the virus originated from the Wuhan wet market.
Security guard stands in front of Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in January 2020
However, Worobey and his team said they focused on about 156 cases of COVID-19 in Wuhan on December 19.
They went on to map cases in January and February, using data from Chinese researchers on more than 700 cases that popped up in the Wuhan market, especially those with much older residents.
All their tests suggest that “this is no accident,” Worobey said.
He added that his team had found that vendors were selling raccoon dogs and food from other animals that had previously been found to host the virus.
They collected genetic samples from the market in January 2020, showing traces of the virus in the corner of the market where the vendors had previously been.
Workers in protective suits walk to Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market
Members of the World Health Organization (WHO) team investigating the origins of the Covid-19 coronavirus arrive at the closed Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, central China’s Hubei Province on January 31, 2021.
The team then studied mutations in the virus’s so-called family tree and concluded that they must have come from animals separately, with the virus adapting to humans on its own.
A Chinese study by the CDC released on Friday backed Arizona’s hypothesis.
However, research does not reveal the exact first case or animal that spread the virus. Worobey says they will need genetics from Chinese research.
There has been much controversy about the origin of the virus in the years since the pandemic began.
U.S. government officials have given momentum to the idea that COVID-19 has either leaked from a laboratory or was created by China as some kind of weapon against humanity.
People wearing protective masks and suits carry trash cans during disinfection at the Juanan Seafood Wholesale Market on March 4, 2020.
Chinese researcher Shi Jenli of WIV, CAS, is known to have isolated a SARS-like coronavirus from a Chinese horseshoe bat
The Wuhan Wet Market was originally thought to be a breeding ground for the virus, where the sale of live wildlife would provide the perfect opportunity for it to spread naturally between species.
The virus is thought to have first evolved in bats before being transmitted to a creature such as pangolin, which then came into contact with humans and transmitted the virus.
Once in humans, the coronavirus probably mutated to survive and then escalated out of control as a result of an unprepared population.
There are also theories that the virus was genetically engineered by scientists or that it has been around for years and has even killed people in the past.
Two high-security laboratories in the city – the Wuhan Disease Control Center and the Wuhan Institute of Virology – have been the subject of many conspiracy theories.
Researchers work in a laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology
There has been much debate about the origin of the coronavirus
President Donald Trump says he has seen evidence that the virus he blames only on China comes from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, but has not been allowed to detect it.
The institute denied allegations from the first days of the epidemic.
In April, Trump said, “We’re doing a very thorough study of this terrible situation that has happened.”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in May that there was “huge evidence” that the coronavirus outbreak originated in a Chinese laboratory, but failed to provide any of the alleged evidence.
The British scientist Peter Dazak had to be removed from the COVID commission, which is investigating the origin of the pandemic, after he helped secretly condemn the theory of a laboratory leak, failing to mention his close ties to the same facility.
Cars transporting members of the World Health Organization (WHO) team close to the market
A woman walks in front of a closed seafood wholesale market in Huanan, where health officials say a man who died of a respiratory illness bought goods from Wuhan City, Hubei Province
His website revealed the departure of the scandal-stricken scientist from the UN-backed Lancet Commission on the Origin of the Virus.
A sentence is added in brackets below his photo and above his biography, saying “removed from the work of the Pandemic Origins Commission”.
No further information was given about Daszak’s departure, but he was confronted with allegations of conflict of interest after his close ties to the Wuhan Institute of Virology were revealed in May 2021.
Dasak, 55, president of the New York-based EcoHealth Alliance, was one of 28 experts from around the world asked to analyze how best to respond to the pandemic.
The panel included world leaders in public health, economics, philanthropy, diplomacy and politics.
It is organized by the United Nations Network for Sustainable Development, which, according to its website, “works under the auspices of the United Nations to mobilize scientific and technical expertise in support of the Sustainable Development Goals.”
In June 2021, the COVID commission updated its website to show that Daszak had been removed.
Daszak’s presence in a number of bodies investigating the origins of COVID has proved controversial, as he has ties to the Wuhan Institute and its chief researcher, Dr. Shi Zhengli – called “Batwoman”.
He helped organize a letter published in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet, which was signed by 27 scientists, including Dazak himself, and condemned the allegation of a leak from the lab as “conspiracy theory” and “unscientific.”
Since then, Dazak has been confronted with allegations of conflict of interest over his links to laboratory researchers, increasingly believing that COVID may have leaked.
Proponents of the theory say it is a coincidence that the virus originated in the same Chinese city as one of only three laboratories in the world to study bat coronaviruses, with the other two based in the United States.