A team of Chinese researchers recently published the study of specimen gathered over three years ago from the Chinese market thought to be the originator of Covid-19.
Throughout the investigations into the origin of the coronavirus, the Huanan seafood and wildlife market has been the main target of the search. However, this is the initial, peer-reviewed analysis of biological data collected from the market in 2020.
It could offer up new avenues of research into how the outbreak started by connecting the virus with animals that were sold in the market. Swabs taken as part of the research showed positive signs of virus along with genetic material from wild animals.
According to some scientists, this could be treated as an evidence of the transmission of the disease from a virus-laden animal to a human.
Others, however, have cautioned against drawing conclusions too quickly, and it is still unknown why it took three years for the genetic makeup of the samples to be made public.
Other theories
Another explanation holds that the virus unintentionally escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan.
The Chinese research team published an early draft of their work online in February 2022, but they chose not to share the complete genetic data that was present in the market samples.
After discovering that the DNA sequences had been published on a platform for exchanging scientific data, a different international group of researchers provided their own assessment of what those important market swabs had shown in March of this year.
More significant information regarding the contents of those samples, which were taken from stalls, surfaces, cages, and equipment inside the market, is included in this latest analysis, which has been verified by other scientists before being published in the journal Nature.
According to the article by the Chinese research team, several samples that were taken from places where wildlife was being sold had tested positive for the virus. Additionally, their investigation revealed that live animals, particularly raccoon dogs, which are now known to be vulnerable to the virus, were being sold there.
However, the Chinese experts have noted that these findings don’t provide conclusive evidence of how the disease began.
The report says that “these environmental samples cannot prove that the animals were infected.” It continues to be a possibility that a virus infected person rather than an animal introduced the infection to the market.
Since SARS-CoV-2 first appeared in 2020, Prof David Robertson of the University of Glasgow has been conducting genomic research into the virus’s ancestry. The most crucial development, he told BBC News, is that this extremely significant dataset is now released and open for use by others. However, he continued that the samples’ contents provided “compelling evidence that animals there were probably infected with the virus.”
The entire body of evidence, he said, was crucial. “When you bring this together with the fact that the early Covid-19 cases in Wuhan are linked to the market, it’s strong evidence that this is where a spillover from an animal in the market occurred,” he added.
The findings were released at a time when there are indications that US authorities are beginning to accept the lab leak explanation.
FBI’s claims
The FBI and US Department of Energy both stated that they now consider that scenario to be the “most likely,” despite the Chinese government’s vehement denials that the virus originated in a research facility.
The mystery has been studied by a number of US departments and agencies, with varying results. However, on March 1, the FBI director accused Beijing of “doing its best to try to thwart and obfuscate,” and revealed that the bureau had been persuaded of the lab leak idea “for quite some time now.”
Some experts have expressed frustration that the FBI has not released its findings.
