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COVID Origins

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  • Despite the charged politics around the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists continue to search for the answer.  Two sources of the SAR-CoV-2 virus have been suspected:  the Wuhan Institute of Virology and a wet market in Wuhan where live animals were for sale. Health experts could only speculate since the Chinese government didn’t allow scientists to collect data from either location.  

    But recently a Coronavirus expert at the Wuhan lab finally presented data in Japan that suggests none of the viruses from the laboratory are the ancestor of SARS-CoV-2.  It refutes the accusation that the lab either intentionally or accidentally leaked the virus. Researchers there had been collecting coronaviruses from bats to study which presented pandemic threats. They began the work after an earlier SARS virus sickened people in early 2,000. That one had leaped from bats to civet cats to humans through a wet market.   

    The latest presentation revealed that an analysis of the genomes of more than 50 new coronaviruses collected between 2004 and 2021 showed nothing implicated the lab. And samples from the Wuhan market showed an intermingling of SARS-CoV-2, raccoon dog and human DNAs which points to an animal source for the infection. As more evidence is found, we’ll know what happened. Future pandemic prevention and responses may depend on it.     

More Information

Wuhan lab samples hold no close relatives to virus behind COVID
Shi Zhengli, the virologist at centre of COVID lab-leak theory, reveals coronavirus sequences from Wuhan institute.

COVID pandemic started in Wuhan market animals after all, suggests latest study
The finding comes from a reanalysis of genomic data.

The origins of SARS-CoV-2: A critical review
Since the first reports of a novel severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-like coronavirus in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, there has been intense interest in understanding how severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) emerged in the human population. Recent debate has coalesced around two competing ideas: a “laboratory escape” scenario and zoonotic emergence. Here, we critically review the current scientific evidence that may help clarify the origin of SARS-CoV-2.

CDC Museum COVID-19 Timeline

CDC SARS Response Timeline

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