Some of the first COVID-19 infections were linked to the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan, China. Photo: Simon Song. According to the South China Morning Post (Hong Kong, China), a study by scientists from West China Normal University and Oxford University recently shed light on the wildlife trade. in Wuhan City, which has long been considered a potential source of the spread of COVID-19. In the most detailed record of the wildlife trade yet to be released, scientists estimate that more than 47,000 wild animals were sold in the city’s markets in the two-and-a-half years before the outbreak. disease outbreak. According to the study, up to 38 animals were sold at 17 stores in four markets in Wuhan city between May 2017 and November 2019. These include mammals such as civets, ferrets and raccoons, which are known to be susceptible to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, along with squirrels, badgers, foxes and porcupines, as well as birds and cows close. However, the researchers did not find any evidence that bats or pangolins – considered two sources of SARS-CoV-2 virus transmission – were commercially available. Seven of the wildlife shops are at the Huanan seafood wholesale market, which has been linked to several COVID-19 cases in late 2019. On average, about 1,100 animals are transported throughout the city’s markets each month, in a trade that the researchers describe as qualifying for disease spread and “essentially any legal”. “Almost all the animals for sale are alive, caged, crammed and in poor condition. Most of the shops offer butchering services, which are performed on site, which does not guarantee food hygiene or animal welfare,” the researchers said. Huanan Seafood Market, Wuhan, closed last January. Photo: Simon Song/SCMP Veterinarian David Hayman, a member of the World Health Organization (WHO) team visiting Wuhan in early 2021, said the study confirmed that live wild mammals were for sale. in Wuhan, which the WHO team suspected, but could not verify. The study also provides clear evidence that several species that are susceptible to the SARS-CoV-2 virus have been “continuously marketed,” Hayman said. The origin of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the COVID-19 epidemic is still unknown. Scientists as well as governments in many countries have called for further investigation into whether the virus came from the wild or leaked from a laboratory, a theory that China has repeatedly denied. The wildlife trade has been identified as a possible route of transmission of the virus, which is believed to have originated in bats. Most of the first cases were linked to the Huanan Seafood Market, and a subsequent analysis found that more than half of the first cases in December 2019 were in contact with this market or markets. other in the city. However, no link was found between commercially available animals and the virus. Earlier, a report by the WHO team, based on information from Chinese authorities, said that only snakes, crocodiles and salamanders, which are less likely to contract SARS-CoV-2, were sold directly. continue at the market at the end of December 2019. “It is important that mammals that are alive and being sold in markets in Wuhan just before the first cases of COVID-19 were recorded, are very contagious with the SARS-CoV-2 virus,” said Daniel Lucey. , an infectious disease specialist at Georgetown University Medical Center (USA), said. Meanwhile, Zhou Zhao-min, co-author of the study, hopes the newly published data can be useful in tracing the origin of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Photo: Daily Mail According to the Daily Mail (UK), this incredible mistake was revealed in a screenshot sent to a Chinese medical journal. The photo shows information about a 61-year-old woman, known as “patient Su”, who lives about a mile from one of Wuhan’s main virus research facilities. The woman was also near a train station along the high-speed rail line that played a key role in spreading the virus around the city of 11 million people. This latest finding was revealed through an interview by a medical journal with the scientist tasked with compiling China’s official data on cases. In an interview with Health Times, Yu Chuanhua, Professor of Biostatistics at Wuhan University, said there were 47,000 confirmed and suspected cases on the national database of COVID-19 by the end of the year. February 2020. Among these, there was a death of a patient at the end of September 2019. “There is data on a patient who became ill on September 29. The data shows that the patient has not been given a nucleic test and a clinical diagnosis. It is possible that this is a suspected case of COVID-19. The patient died. This data has not been confirmed,” added Mr. Yu. The data also shows that two other suspected COVID-19 cases were reported to doctors in Wuhan on November 14 and November 21, 2019, along with several other cases prior to December 8, the period. China informed the World Health Organization (WHO) of the first cases. Inside the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Hubei Province, China. Photo: AP The Health Times article includes screenshots of information of two suspected COVID-19 cases in November 2019 on the database of Professor Yu. Although the patient’s personal details have been obscured, some information can still be seen, including the hospital name and home address. Information shows that patient Su has been treated at Rongjun hospital in Wuhan. Both the home address and the hospital where this patient is being treated are in Hongshan District, Wuhan City, where many studies on SARS-CoV-2 virus related to bats have been conducted in laboratories. experience. The area where patient Su lives and is treated is more than 20 kilometers from the Huanan seafood market, which Beijing initially believed to be the source of the COVID-19 infection. The second patient discovered in November 2019 is a 62-year-old man named Wang, who is being treated at Hanyang Hospital. However, Professor Yu has requested that the information published in the newspaper be retracted, claiming that the dates were entered incorrectly and that all other suspected cases before December 8, 2019 need further verification. . Wuhan Institute of Virology, Hubei Province, China. Photo: EPA This detail was discovered by Gilles Demaneuf, a member of the Drastic digital operations team, who discovered many facts that are said to contradict the theory that COVID-19 is an infectious disease from animals. Chinese objects. “We were able to accurately determine the name, age, and address of the suspected COVID-19 case very early, almost a month before the first case was officially announced. This address is right next to metro line 2 and not far from the hospital that treated some of the other first cases,” Demaneuf said. The railway system, which carries 1 million people a day, is linked to a seafood market, the Wuhan Institute of Virology and an international airport, he said. Demaneuf argues that these new findings show that more clues can be accessed if there are continued and determined efforts to evaluate the hypothesis that the virus leaked from the laboratory. The Wall Street Journal last week also cited a US intelligence report that said three researchers from the Wuhan Institute of Virology were hospitalized for medical care in November 2019, a few months before China announced it. announced the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in this country. However, China has denied the above information. Beijing insists the WHO-led investigation team concluded after a visit to the Wuhan Institute of Virology in February that the possibility of a virus leak from the laboratory was “extremely unlikely”.