Even two years after the COVID pandemic began, it’s still not entirely clear what was its true origin. The good news, however, is that researchers don’t stop looking for answers to solve the conundrum.
According to CNN, two preprint studies found some interesting evidence. They claim that the virus triggering the COVID-19 disease has its origin in animals and that it started to spread to humans at the Huanan Seafood Market from Wuhan, the capital of the Hubei province from China.
The coronavirus didn’t emerge from a lab
Researchers strongly reject the famous theory that the SARS-CoV-2 virus might have its origin in a lab. They claim there’s no proof for such a scenario.
Michael Worobey from the University of Arizona made some interesting claims for CNN. He said that the new studies represent the strongest evidence yet that the ongoing pandemic has its origins in the animal world.
The study notes, as CNN quotes, that “December 2019 Covid-19 cases were geographically distributed unexpectedly near to, and centered on, the Huanan market, irrespective of whether or not they worked at, had visited or were knowingly linked to someone who had visited this market in late 2019. Furthermore, of those cases epidemiologically linked to the market, the overwhelming majority were specifically linked to the western section of the Huanan market, where most of the live-mammal vendors were located.”
According to worldometers.info, the world has reported a total of over 436.5 million COVID infections and almost 6 million related deaths worldwide since the ongoing pandemic started. The same source reveals that over 367.1 million people had been recovered after being infected with the coronavirus.
It’s important to keep in mind that none of the two studies has been yet peer-reviewed or published within a professional journal.
Both studies were published in Zenodo, and you can find them here: Link 1 and Link 2.
