World News | Chinese scientists say COVID-19 virus may have originated in humans

Taipei [Taiwan]April 9 (ANI): A Chinese scientist has claimed that the COVID-19 virus may have originated in humans, CNN reported.

Tong Yigang of Beijing University of Chemical Technology said the genetic sequence of a virus sample collected from Wuhan’s South China Seafood Market, believed to be the ground zero of the pandemic, was “almost identical” to patients infected with the coronavirus, suggesting that COVID-19 may have originated in humans.

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Tong was speaking at a news conference held by China’s State Council on the study of the origin of the virus.

From January to March 2020, the market collected more than 1,300 environmental and frozen animal samples, and researchers isolated three virus strains from the environmental samples, Tong said.

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He also said there wasn’t enough evidence to support recent research suggesting raccoons were the origin of the COVID-19 virus, according to CNN.

Speaking at the same event, Zhou Lei, a researcher at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), called for global scientific cooperation to trace the origin of the virus, saying that where COVID-19 was first detected was not necessarily where it originated.

China has been heavily criticized in the past for obstructing international investigations into the origins of the virus, according to CNN. Earlier this week, the World Health Organization said it still did not have key data from China on the start of the outbreak, and the head of its emerging diseases program said the lack of disclosure was “simply inexcusable”.

However, China has always said it has been transparent and cooperating with the WHO.

Debate over the origin of the virus has recently resurfaced following an assessment last month by the U.S. Department of Energy, likely the result of a laboratory mishap. But the U.S. agency also labeled it a “low confidence” decision, according to CNN.

On Saturday, Zhou dismissed the theory of the lab leak, saying it was “highly unlikely.”

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), said recently (local time) that the organization will continue to work until it finds answers about how the COVID-19 pandemic started , following reports that the group had abandoned the search.

“We need to keep working until we find the answer,” Tedros told reporters, referring to the search for the origin of the virus that first spread in China in late 2019.

Ghebreyesus spoke with China’s National Health Commission Minister Ma Xiaowei in January about the country’s COVID-19 situation and sought deeper collaboration on the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Spoken to Minister Ma Xiaowei about the #COVID19 situation in #China. I appreciate the release of the details, which we ask them to continue to share. Ask to share further sequences and collaborate in understanding the origin of the virus,” WHO Director-General tweeted wrote above.

Providence recently reported that Chinese President Xi Jinping had appointed an army general to be in charge of the Wuhan lab, making it clear that Xi was never transparent about the origin of the virus, but only to concoct a false narrative. (Arnie)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)