Few questions are as scientifically interesting and politically sensitive as those about the origin of the coronavirus that spread in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019. According to a study published on Thursday in the journal Cell, an international team of researchers sees important evidence that the virus was probably first transmitted from wild animals to humans at the Huanan wet market there. To do this, they evaluated more than 800 samples taken from January 1, 2020, in the market and its surroundings and from patients who became ill early on. Microbiologist and study author Kristian Andersen of the Scripps Research Institute said in a press release: “This study adds another layer to the mounting evidence that all points to the same scenario: that infected animals were brought to the market in mid- to late November 2019, triggering the pandemic.”
