At the end of 2019, a new, unknown disease appeared in Wuhan. Dozens of people suffered from severe pneumonia. An investigation revealed that they had contracted a new coronavirus, which was scientifically named SARS-CoV-2. From the beginning, the Huanan animal market was mentioned as the place where they might have become infected, and thus the possible germ of the epidemic. However, other places in and around Wuhan could also be the cradle, such as a laboratory.
Now the researchers conclude that the Huanan pet market was “the early epicenter of the pandemic.” The first eight people found with the virus all worked on the western side of the pet market. Mammals were sold there. Almost all of the first 155 corona patients lived around the market, and people living further away in Wuhan had ties to the market.
Traces found
Traces of the corona virus were also found on the market site itself. For example, virus particles were on a cage, two carts, a water drain and on a device used to remove feathers.
Several traders in the Wuhan market sold live wild animals, such as foxes, northern pig badgers and raccoon dogs. Some people eat those animals, but they are also used for their fur. The animals are “plausible hosts” of the coronavirus. How the animals themselves contracted the virus has not become clear, according to the researchers.
The study is partly based on a visit by Koopmans and others to Wuhan at the beginning of last year. They were there on behalf of the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO). “However you analyze the data, the evidence points to the market as the epicenter, and more specifically a corner where live wild animals have been sold,” writes the virologist of Erasmus MC in Rotterdam on Twitter on Tuesday.