Chinese health authorities say animals for sale at the market were tested and found not to contain the novel coronavirus
It has long been the focus of swirling coronavirus speculation, but now Chinese health authorities have said that the wet market in Wuhan, central China, was not the source of the first COVID-19 outbreak.
The novel coronavirus, experts believe, made a leap from a bat, to an intermediary host, and then onto humans. The deadly SARS outbreak of 2002 occurred at a similar market in China. But now, the Wall Street Journal reports that Gao Fu, director of China’s CDC, has told state media: “It now turns out that the market is one of the victims.” According to the Daily Mail, China has said its new study showed 13 of the first virus cases were not linked to the Wuhan market.
“I haven’t seen anything that makes me feel, as a researcher who studies zootonic disease, that this market is a likely option,” he said. “None of the animals tested positive. So since January, this has not actually been particularly conclusive. But this has developed into a narrative.” It was not clear whether live animals or infected vendors or shoppers may have brought the virus into the market, he told a Geneva news briefing Friday.
“What is important, what would be of great help, is to get hold of the virus before it adapted to humans, before the version we have now. Because then we would better understand how it adapted to humans, how it evolved,” he said.
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