A new study has challenged China's claim that the coronavirus pandemic came from a wet market in the city of Wuhan last December.
The researchers said they were "Surprised" to find that the novel coronavirus detected in December closely resembled the 2003 coronavirus after it had already developed "Several advantageous adaptations for human transmission."
"Our observations suggest that by the time SARS-CoV-2 was first detected in late 2019, it was already pre-adapted to human transmission to an extent similar to late epidemic SARS-CoV," the study said.
The researchers said that because the novel coronavirus was already adapted to be passed between humans, people must consider the possibility that it came from a human source rather than an animal.
"The publicly available genetic data does not point to cross-species transmission of the virus at the market," Chan and Zhan said, according to the Daily Mail.
"The market samples are genetically identical to human SARS-CoV-2 isolates and were therefore most likely from human sources," the study read. Chan and Deverman are scientists at the Broad Institute, a research unit affiliated with Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Zhan is with the University of British Columbia.
Liu Dengfeng of the Chinese National Health Commission's science and education department said samples of the virus were destroyed at unauthorized labs to "Prevent the risk to laboratory biological safety and prevent secondary disasters caused by unidentified pathogens."
https://thefederalistpapers.org/us/study-casts-doubt-chinas-narrative-finds-virus-pre-adapted-human-transmission
The researchers said they were "Surprised" to find that the novel coronavirus detected in December closely resembled the 2003 coronavirus after it had already developed "Several advantageous adaptations for human transmission."
"Our observations suggest that by the time SARS-CoV-2 was first detected in late 2019, it was already pre-adapted to human transmission to an extent similar to late epidemic SARS-CoV," the study said.
The researchers said that because the novel coronavirus was already adapted to be passed between humans, people must consider the possibility that it came from a human source rather than an animal.
"The publicly available genetic data does not point to cross-species transmission of the virus at the market," Chan and Zhan said, according to the Daily Mail.
"The market samples are genetically identical to human SARS-CoV-2 isolates and were therefore most likely from human sources," the study read. Chan and Deverman are scientists at the Broad Institute, a research unit affiliated with Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Zhan is with the University of British Columbia.
Liu Dengfeng of the Chinese National Health Commission's science and education department said samples of the virus were destroyed at unauthorized labs to "Prevent the risk to laboratory biological safety and prevent secondary disasters caused by unidentified pathogens."
https://thefederalistpapers.org/us/study-casts-doubt-chinas-narrative-finds-virus-pre-adapted-human-transmission
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