Scientists believe they have discovered the true origin of the Covid pandemic and have rejected the popular theory that the virus leaked from a laboratory.
A major international study published today insists that the virus began life in a “wet market” in Wuhan, China, and not in a scientific experiment.
Researchers analyzed genetic samples from animals sold at Wuhan market stalls in 2019 and found traces of the Covid virus in some species.
They argue that this is the first time that scientists have precisely identified the animals that may have been responsible for transmission to humans.
“This adds another layer to the accumulating evidence pointing to the same scenario: that infected animals were introduced to the market in mid- to late November 2019, triggering the pandemic,” said study author Kristian Andersen of Scripps Research.
Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, China, where scientists believe the pandemic began
A raccoon dog, which was sold alive at the market and is now believed to be one of the main culprits in spreading the virus to humans.
The raccoon dog, a fox-like animal common in East Asia, has been suggested to be the major carrier of the virus.
Other animals, such as masked palm civets, hoary bamboo rats and Malayan porcupines, were also found to be carriers of Covid-19 before it spread to humans.
This is not a definitive list as many of the key animal species were removed from the market before the Chinese sanitary team arrived, said Florence Débarre of the French National Centre for Scientific Research, who led the study.
Scientists say many of the early cases in Wuhan, a city of 12 million people, were market workers.
A heated debate has erupted over the origins of the pandemic that has claimed seven million lives worldwide and more than 200,000 in the UK.
The alternative theory is that the pandemic was caused by a leak from one of the Wuhan Institute of Virology laboratories.
The theory gained traction after FBI Director Christopher Wray said the agency believes Covid-19 “most likely” originated in a “Chinese government-controlled laboratory.”
President Biden failed to dismantle the lab leak conspiracy after ordering an investigation into the theory.
Malayan porcupines were also identified as one of the animals that caused the spread to humans.
The market and the laboratory are only 14 miles from each other, which reinforces the theory.
Following the publication of this latest study, scientists now insist that the pandemic originated at the market, as originally reported.
The study is based on a new analysis of data published by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The data comes from more than 800 samples collected in and around the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market from January 1, 2020, and from genetic samples reported from early COVID-19 patients.
On January 1, 2020, after the animals were removed and just hours after the market closed, Chinese CDC investigators went to the market to collect samples.
They cleaned the floors, walls and other surfaces of the stalls and returned days later to focus on surfaces at the stalls that sold wildlife, such as a cage and carts used to transport animals.
They also collected samples from drains and sewers.
Experts warn that lessons from Covid-19 have not been learned and there is a possibility of a future pandemic caused by the live animal trade.
“This is the riskiest thing we can do: take wild animals that are teeming with viruses and then play with fire by putting them in contact with humans living in the heart of big cities, whose population densities make it easy for these viruses to take hold,” said Michael Worobey of the University of Arizona, one of the study’s authors.
Other experts agree. In a separate commentary, Professor James Wood, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Cambridge who was not involved in the study, said: “While efforts have been made globally to strengthen biosecurity in laboratories to ensure that viruses cannot inadvertently escape, little or nothing has been done to limit the trade in live wild animals.”