It ’s “ passing improbable ” the COVID-19 pandemic was triggered by a virus escaping from the Wuhan Institute of Virology , grant to the initial findings of the World Health Organization ( WHO ) mission to investigate the lineage of SARS - CoV-2 , the virus that make COVID-19 .
The long - awaited WHO missionis being led by an outside team of scientists specialise in virology , zoonotic diseases , and epidemiology . The team get in China on January 14 and , after two week of quarantine , they ship on visiting key sites that have been mistrust to play a part in the initial level of the disease outbreak .
play up their preliminary findings at amedia conferenceon Tuesday , February 9 , the team note they have currently found no hard evidence that COVID-19 was go around within Wuhan before December 2019 , when the first cases of the disease were cover . They also say the virus most likely has a natural descent and jumped from a species of animal into human race , although the identicalness of that animal rest a mystery for now .
The Wuhan Institute of Virology has been accused by some – including top officialsof the Trump Administration – of leaking the virus into the surround community . The lab was involved in the enquiry of like coronaviruses , and it ’s beenloosely speculatedit was linked to biologic weapon inquiry . However , the investigation articulate this is unlikely , as all signs suggest the virus had a rude inception . They added thatthe “ lab - origination ” hypothesisof SARS - CoV-2 is unlikely to be taken seriously in their ongoing discipline .
“ Our initial findings evoke that the introduction through an intermediary innkeeper mintage is the most likely pathway and one that will expect more studies and more specific targeted research , ” Dr Peter Ben Embarek , intellectual nourishment safety and animal disease expert , say at thepress conference(video below ) .
“ However , the finding suggest that the ‘ lab incident theory ’ is super unlikely to explain the introduction of the computer virus into the human population , ” afterward added Dr Embarek .
Very little is sure so far . While the team indicates the virus has a zoonotic origin , meaning it ’s a virus that has jumped from another species of creature to humans , the personal identity of this animal still rest undecipherable .
The WHO team notice thatextremely similar coronaviruseshave been detected in wild bats in China and other parting of East Asia . However , the city of Wuhan is not stuffy to these wild bat population , suggest another animate being play as an intermediary . TheHuanan Seafood Market was long - suspected to play a central rolein the emergence of the disease , asmany of the early casesin December 2019 were linked to the site . Equally , the close contact of animal and humans would make it the prime location for a zoonotic leap from creature to human . However , otherearly COVID-19 cases in Wuhan have no connectionto the market , raising doubts that it ’s the original setting of the outbreak .
" How it was introduce and spread within the [ Huanan Seafood ] food market is still nameless , " Dr Embarek explained .
There ’s a opportunity this zoonotic saltation into the human universe came from a wild beast or an fauna that was part of the food supplying chain , they intimate . The squad adds they are peculiarly interested in inquire the role of frozen food for thought in the issue of the virus .
“ We are still working with the speculation that it could have been introduced by a soul who was infect and then go around to other persons in the market . But it could also be through the debut of a Cartesian product . Among the more interesting products were frozen farmed furious animals . Some of these species are do it to be susceptible to these variety of virus , ” added Embarek .
