A World Health Organization team investigating the roots of the coronavirus has visited the Chinese food market previously linked to very early infections.
Health workers spent about an hour at the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan on Sunday.
Scientists once suspected that animals sold in the market were related to the outbreak in December 2019. The theory has since been largely ruled out, but WHO employees say the website could provide tips on how the deadly virus has spread so quickly.
“Very important visits to the site today – a wholesale market and Huanan Seafood Market right now,” said Peter Daszak, a zoologist at the US group EcoHealth Alliance and a member of the WTO team, tweeted. “Very informative and critical for our joint teams to understand the epidemiology of COVID as it began to spread in late 2019.”
Before visiting the Huanan seafood market, a large following of Chinese officials took a walk through the Baishazhou market – one of the largest food outlets in the industrial city, which was a distribution center during the 76-day closure.
The visit was politically charged because Communist Party leaders wanted to avoid blaming failures in the country’s early response to the outbreak. China had earlier blocked the planned entry into the market of scientists. It overturned the decision earlier this month after WTO leaders accused the country of obstructing the investigation.
The international team of experts in veterinary science, virology, food safety and epidemiology also toured two hospitals in the midst of the early outbreak, and a museum exhibit on the early history of COVID-19.
One WHO team member flashes a thumbs up to a reporter who inquires about the success of the tours.
However, a single visit by the team is unlikely to yield answers. Usually, years of research on animal samples, genetic analysis and epidemiological studies are needed to determine the origin of an outbreak.
Chinese officials have driven an unconfirmed theory that the outbreak of imported frozen seafood has begun, but a more viable possibility is that a poacher transmitted the virus to traders who brought it to Wuhan.
Wuhan was responsible for most of China’s 4,635 COVID-19 deaths, but reports have been free of outbreaks since the ruling was lifted in April last year.
According to a November study by the National Cancer Institute, it appears that the virus spread in Milan in September 2019 – three months before the outbreak in Wuhan was reported.
With Post Wires