China finally reveals results of Wuhan wet market Covid-19 investigation
China finally answered calls to reveal and publish an analysis of samples taken from animals at a wet market in Wuhan linked to the outbreak of Covid-19 and guess what? Definitive proof of how the outbreak started still remains inconclusive.
The Huanan Wholesale Seafood Market in Wuhan, China has been a key focus in the search for the origin of Covid and this is the first peer-reviewed study of biological evidence collected from the market in 2020.
The study reveals that swabs taken from the wet market and tested positive for the virus also contained genetic material from wild animals. Some scientists see this as further evidence that the disease was initially transmitted from an infected animal to a human, while others have urged caution in interpreting the findings and questioned why it took three years for the genetic content to be made public.
The Chinese research team posted an early version of their study online in February but did not publish the full genetic information contained in the samples taken from the market. Another international group of researchers later shared their assessment of the genetic sequences, which had been posted on a scientific data-sharing website.
The new analysis, which has been validated by other scientists and published in the journal Nature, provides more important details about the content of the samples, collected from various locations within the Wuhan market including stalls, surfaces, cages, and machinery. The research showed that some samples, collected from areas where wildlife was being sold, had tested positive for the virus. The analysis also revealed that animals susceptible to the virus, particularly raccoon dogs, were being sold alive in those locations.
However, the researchers from China stated that their findings do not offer definitive proof of how the outbreak started. The paper explains that the environmental samples cannot prove whether the animals were infected and that it is still possible that the virus was brought into the market by an infected person, rather than an animal.
Prof David Robertson, from the University of Glasgow, is a virologist who has been involved in the genetic investigation into the origin of Covid since it emerged in 2020. He told the BBC…
“The most important thing is that this very important dataset is now published and available for others to work on.
“The contents of the samples were compelling evidence that animals there were probably infected with the virus.
“It’s the whole body of evidence that’s important.
“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.”
The publication of the latest findings coincides with indications that the theory of a lab leak is gaining support among authorities in the US, who are rarely impartial when it comes to China.
The Chinese government has consistently denied claims that the virus originated in a laboratory, but the FBI considers this scenario to be the most likely, a position shared by the US Department of Energy.
While various US departments and agencies have investigated the origins of the virus and arrived at different conclusions, on March 1, the director of the FBI accused Beijing of obstructing the investigation and revealed that the bureau had been convinced of the lab leak theory for some time.
Unsurprisingly, the FBI has not made its findings public, which has frustrated some scientists.
