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The most likely origin of the COVID-19 pandemic is still the Wuhan wet market, scientists confirm.
Members of a World Health Organization (WHO) delegation to China recently made the claim in a recent Chatham House briefing.
They also found zero evidence to support theories the disease was deliberately made in a lab. Or, that it was caused by an ‘accidental lab leak’.
‘Most likely’ origin of COVID-19
Dr. Peter Daszak is a zoologist and President of NGO EcoHealth Alliance.
The company says it found ‘a viable conduit’ between the Wuhan wet market and where the ‘closest relatives of COVID-19 are found in bats’.
Dr. Dasszak told the Evening Standard: “It provides a link and a pathway by which these viruses could convincingly spillover from wildlife into either people or animals farmed in the region. And ,then [be] shipped into the market by some means.”
He then suggested the disease came from domesticated or farmed animals which then got into the wet market.
Wuhan wet market
It has been long speculated that the COVID-19 outbreak came from a wet market in Wuhan – where live animals are sold and slaughtered alongside dead ones.
As a result, the United Nations is being urged to ban wet markets around the world.
According to Animal Equality: “Wet markets get their name in part from the blood, guts, scales, and water that soak the stalls’ floors, remnants of animals brutally killed so customers can eat freshly killed meat…
“These markets are also a threat to public health,” the charity added. “[They] have been the source of documented disease outbreaks in the past, including SARS…
“It’s because of the public health crises wet markets cause, as well as the intense suffering inflicted on farmed animals, that Animal Equality is urging the United Nations to demand a ban on all wet markets. Not only do these markets pose an immediate danger to humans, they are also intensely cruel to animals.”
