The outbreak of the coronavirus COVID19 pandemic started in Huanan Market in Wuhan, China. This was announced by an international group of scientists whose research was published in the scientific journal Cell.
Experts concluded that in the fall of 2019, meat from raccoon dogs, civets and other wild animals was sold in several commercial establishments in the western part of the market.
Animal mitochondrial DNA found in cell, cart and sewage samples tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. These genotypes turned out to correspond to the common ancestor of the entire pandemic.
In the US, the coronavirus pandemic is believed to be the result of a laboratory leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken called this version "very real".
Earlier, Vladimir Nikiforov, the chief infectious disease specialist of Russia's Federal Medical and Biological Agency, said that the virus that caused the pandemic was of natural origin, but some of its characteristics were atypical of such an infection. | BGNES
