A new international study provides a shortlist of the wildlife species present at the market from which SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, most likely arose in late 2019. The study, published in the journal Cell , is based on an analysis of genetic data released by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The data comes from more than 800 samples collected in and around the Huanan Seafood Wholesale market in Wuhan, China, beginning on Jan.
1, 2020, and from viral genomes from early COVID-19 patients. "This may be the last big, new set of data directly from the market, and in a way, it's like finishing the last piece of a puzzle showing a picture that has been pretty clear already," said Michael Worobey, one of three co-corresponding authors on the paper and head of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Arizona. "We present a thorough and rigorous analysis of the data and how it fits in with the rest of the huge body of evidence we have about how the pandemic started.
" On Jan. 1, 2020, just hours after the market closed, investigators from the Chinese CDC went to the market to collect samples. Although they encountered little in the way of live wildlife, they swabbed the floors, walls and other surfaces of many stalls.
They came back days later to focus on surfaces in stalls where wildlife was sold, such as the cages and carts used to move animals, and also collected samples from drains and sewers. They .