A recent investigative report on Wednesday claimed that novel coronavirus did not originate from China’s Wuhan market, saying that the earliest documented patient was not connected to the market.
As per the report, scientists still haven’t determined the virus’s origin. U.S. officials, citing intelligence, said the virus was likely naturally occurring, but may have leaked from a virology research lab in Wuhan.
According to latest estimates by Johns Hopkins University, more than 6.5 million cases of Covid-19 have been reported worldwide, including at least 388,000 deaths. In US alone, more than 1.8 million coronavirus cases have been recorded, including at least 108,000 deaths.
Chinese authorities have repeatedly refused offers of assistance from the United States and other countries in research of the virus outbreak, while keeping mum about their investigations.
In January, Gao Fu, director of China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), claimed twice that the virus came from wild animals sold at the Huanan seafood wholesale market in Wuhan.
“The virus likely first infected people through contact with wild animals and the environment that the wild animals were in. Then, the virus began mutating and became capable of human-to-human transmission. The original source of the virus is wild animals that were sold at the Huanan seafood market,” Gao said.
When pressure from international community mounted in March, Chinese officials began pushing the unfounded conspiracy theory that the U.S. military introduced the virus to Wuhan.
However, a copy of the CDC’s investigative report of the Huanan market has clearly indicated that authorities took 585 environment samples from different areas of the market and found that 33 of them tested positive for the virus.
The positive samples came from shops located throughout the market, as well as surfaces, walls, and tools used in connection with the animals.
Animals and the environment of farms that supplied livestock to the market were also evaluated, with all 139 samples testing negative.
“While the report didn’t provide conclusive evidence as to whether the virus originated from animals sold at the market, it revealed that authorities weren’t forthcoming about its research and were too quick to declare the virus’s provenance,” said Dr. Sean Lin, former lab director at the viral disease branch of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.
The investigative report was drafted by the National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention at China’s CDC and reported to the National Health Commission on January 22.
The Huanan Market, which is located close to the Hankou railway station, a major transportation hub, had more than 1,000 shops before it was closed by authorities on January 1.
According to the report, the 33 positive samples came from floor surfaces, doors, weight balances, trolleys, walls, trash bins, refrigerators, shoes, and gloves at 31 vendor shops. About half of the shops that had positive samples were those selling seafood and freshwater fish.
“We highly suspect that the virus outbreak was related to the wild animals’ trading because there are several shops selling wild animals in the area where the 12 connected shops were located, the report concluded.
However, the report also indicates that 139 environment and animal samples from farms – which supplied bamboo rats, porcupines, turkeys, rabbits, and other animals to the market – all came back negative.
Dr. Sean Lin said that one of the Huanan market environment samples – an epilator used to remove hair or feathers from animals – tested positive. “This likely indicates the virus left on the machine came from an animal,” he said.
He urged the Chinese authorities to release the animal testing results so “the public can understand the real picture” of the virus outbreak.
Lin further said that the authorities should have investigated which shops or areas were visited by the first COVID-19 patients diagnosed in January. “That would have provided a better clue as to which areas of the market were infected with the virus,” he said.