China Publishes Covid-Origin Data, Confirms Raccoon Dog DNA At Wuhan Market

The research paper confirms that swabs taken from the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, linked to the start of the pandemic, contained genetic material from wild animals and tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. 

The analysis also reveals that animals now known to be susceptible to the virus, particularly raccoon dogs, were being sold alive in those locations. 

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Chinese scientists on Wednesday published a long-awaited study of samples taken more than three years ago from the Wuhan market, where the outbreak of Covid-19 is believed to have taken place. The analysis acknowledges that animals susceptible to the coronavirus were present around the time the virus emerged at the Huanan seafood and wildlife market, BBC reported.

The new analysis published in the journal Nature has important details about the content of those samples, which were collected from stalls, surfaces, cages and machinery inside the market.

The research paper confirms that swabs taken from the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, linked to the start of the pandemic, contained genetic material from wild animals and tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. 

The analysis also reveals that animals now known to be susceptible to the virus, particularly raccoon dogs, were being sold alive in those locations. 

However, researchers say the findings still does not fully confirm that SARS-CoV-2 originated from an animal-to-human spillover event.

"These environmental samples cannot prove that the animals were infected," the paper explains.

Still, researchers say that the genomic data is crucial — because it will allow further analysis that could offer clues about the pandemic’s origin, reported the journal Nature. 

The published findings now provides more backing to the lab leak theory gaining ground among authorities in the Unites States.

The Chinese government has vehemently denied the theory that the Covid-19 virus originated in a scientific facility of the country. But the FBI now believes that scenario is the "most likely", as does the US Department of Energy, reported BBC.

The Huanan market in China has been at the centre of the natural-origin theory because several of the earliest known cases of Covid-19 were linked to the market.

WHO Urges More Data From China On Covid-19

Meanwhile, World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Thursday said China had far more data on the origins of Covid-19 and needs to share it with them.

"Without full access to the information that China has, ... all hypotheses are on the table," said Ghebreyesus in Geneva, as reported by AFP.

"That's WHO's position and that's why we have been asking China to be cooperative on this," he said. He also insisting that if Beijing does provide the missing data "we will know what happened or how it started."