Chinese Scientists Say Coronavirus Jumped Human Hosts Before Coming to Wuhan Market

BEIJING (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd February, 2020) The new strain of coronavirus believed to stem from a wet market in China's Wuhan in December may have emerged and switched hosts way earlier than thought, Chinese scientists said in a research.

A research team at the Tropical Botanic Garden of the Chinese academy of Sciences said it looked at 93 coronavirus genome sequences collected in 12 countries on four continents.

"The new strain of coronavirus was brought to the Huanan seafood market from another place. It spread rapidly both inside the market and beyond," the research paper reads.

The researchers identified 58 clusters of genes within the sequences that were passed on together so-called haplotypes and found a set of genes that were not common in patients linked to the market.

Haplotypes found in the first confirmed cases of infection in the city of Shenzhen and in Washington did not originate at the market, even though the patients visited Wuhan after the outbreak was officially reported.

This points to a different birthplace of the virus, which possibly emerged as early as late November. It may have been introduced to the market by an already infected person and spread quickly in unsanitary conditions.