WHO's early probe into COVID-19 suggests Wuhan's Huanan seafood market amplified pandemic
- In Reports
- 07:47 PM, Jun 12, 2022
- Myind Staff
As the Coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc across the globe since 2020, claiming millions of human lives, the World Health Organisation (WHO) advisory group's early investigation into origins of SARS-CoV-2 virus has reportedly suggested that the Huanan seafood market in China's Wuhan played a major role in the amplification of the pandemic.
In their first report, a WHO advisory group, Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (Sago) said that key recommendations are provided for further studies needed on humans, animals and the environment in China and around the world that would provide additional information and contribute to a better understanding of how SARS-CoV-2 infected the human population and spread.
At the present time, currently available epidemiological and sequencing data suggest ancestral strains to SARS-CoV-2 have a zoonotic origin with the closest genetically related viruses being beta coronaviruses, identified in Rhinolophus bats in China in 2013 (96.1 pc) and Laos in 2020 (96.8 pc).
Early investigations suggested that the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan played an important role early in the amplification of the pandemic with several of the patients first detected in December 2019 having had a link to the market and environmental samples from the market testing positive for SARS-CoV-2. There are, however, further studies needed to follow up on several gaps in the knowledge.
The source of SARS-CoV-2 and its introduction into the market is unclear and it is yet to be determined where the initial spillover event(s) occurred. There is a need to examine environmental samples collected from specific stalls and drains at the market in January 2020 that tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in areas known to have sold live animals.
In March 2021, WHO released a report about COVID-19's origins following a highly choreographed visit by international scientists to China. The report concluded that the disease most likely jumped into humans from bats and that there was no evidence to suggest there was a connection to a laboratory.
Image source: ANI
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