A scientist from China named Tong Yigang has claimed that the Covid-19 virus may have originated from humans. He made this statement during a press conference held by the Chinese State Council regarding research into the virus’s origin.
The Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan, which is considered the ground zero of the pandemic, had genetic sequences of viral samples that were “almost identical” to coronavirus-infected patients. This led to the suggestion that Covid-19 may have originated from humans.
Yigang also mentioned that researchers had taken more than 1,300 environmental and frozen animal samples from the market between January and March 2020. They isolated three strains of the virus from the environmental samples. He also stated that there was not enough evidence to support the recent studies that suggested raccoon dogs were the origin of the Covid-19 virus.
Another researcher, Zhou Lei, from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), called for international scientific collaboration to trace the origins of the virus. She pointed out that the site where Covid-19 was first discovered might not be where it originated.
In the past, China has been accused of obstructing international investigations into the origins of the virus. Recently, the World Health Organization expressed concern over a lack of critical data from China at the beginning of the outbreak.
The head of the WHO’s program on emerging diseases criticized the absence of information as “simply inexcusable.” China has consistently stated that it has been transparent and cooperative with the WHO.
Debates on the virus’s origins have been reignited by the recent assessment by the United States (US) Department of Energy, which suggested that the virus may have resulted from a laboratory accident. However, this assessment has been marked as a “low confidence” determination by the US agency.
