There are still some serious doubts about that despite this latest study! I personally prefer the lab leak hypothesis.
This study is about 4 years late!
China was extremely uncooperative from the beginning in early 2020 to find the cause or origin of this pandemic. Foreign researchers were not allowed to investigate, I believe.
There are similar "wet markets" existing in at least 15 large Chinese cities. Why in Wuhan, where coincidentally the infamous dual use Wuhan Institute of Virology is located! The study focused only on the Wuhan market!
The SARS-CoV-2 virus had features unlike natural viruses suggesting it may have escaped a laboratory. Case in point, the extreme infectiousness of his virus.
The crook Anthony Fauci (former Director of the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases between 1984-2022) did a great cover up job to hide the federal financing of gain of function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. He should have been fired or sidelined immediately after the outbreak of Covid-19. Big mistake by then President Trump!
"The hunt for the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic has new leads. Researchers have identified half a dozen animal species that could have passed SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, to people, by reanalysing genomes collected from an animal market in Wuhan, China. The study establishes the presence of animals and the virus at the market, although it does not confirm whether the animals themselves were infected with the virus. ..."
From the highlights and abstract:
"Highlights
• Common ancestor of SARS-CoV-2 linked to Huanan market matches the global common ancestor
• Wildlife mitochondrial DNA identified in samples from stalls positive for SARS-CoV-2
• DNA from raccoon dogs, civets, and other wildlife species detected in market samples
• Genotypes of potential hosts were reconstructed for retracing animal geographic origins
Summary
Zoonotic spillovers of viruses have occurred through the animal trade worldwide. The start of the COVID-19 pandemic was traced epidemiologically to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market. Here, we analyze environmental qPCR and sequencing data collected in the Huanan market in early 2020. We demonstrate that market-linked severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) genetic diversity is consistent with market emergence and find increased SARS-CoV-2 positivity near and within a wildlife stall. We identify wildlife DNA in all SARS-CoV-2-positive samples from this stall, including species such as civets, bamboo rats, and raccoon dogs, previously identified as possible intermediate hosts. We also detect animal viruses that infect raccoon dogs, civets, and bamboo rats. Combining metagenomic and phylogenetic approaches, we recover genotypes of market animals and compare them with those from farms and other markets. This analysis provides the genetic basis for a shortlist of potential intermediate hosts of SARS-CoV-2 to prioritize for serological and viral sampling."
Genetic tracing of market wildlife and viruses at the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic (open access)
Graphical abstract
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