Chinese markets linked to some of the earliest COVID-19 cases were illegally selling a range of wildlife from which the coronavirus may have spread, a

China markets sold mink and civets, stoking natural origins theory

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2021-06-08 08:00:08

Chinese markets linked to some of the earliest COVID-19 cases were illegally selling a range of wildlife from which the coronavirus may have spread, according to a study published less than two weeks after U.S. President Joe Biden ordered a deeper probe into the pandemic’s genesis.

Mink, masked palm civets, raccoon dogs, Siberian weasels, hog badgers and Chinese bamboo rats were among 38 animal species sold live at markets in Wuhan from May 2017 to November 2019, researchers said Monday in a paper in the journal Scientific Reports originally submitted last October.

The hunt for COVID-19’s origins has become increasingly political amid criticism that the Chinese government hasn’t been open and transparent with key information, including activities in a Wuhan lab studying coronaviruses. The new findings support the conclusions of a World Health Organization-led research mission in early 2021 that concluded SARS-CoV-2 most likely spilled over to humans from animals — either directly from a bat or via another mammal, possibly one sold at the Huanan seafood and fresh produce market in central Wuhan.

“This report clearly places SARS-CoV-2 susceptible animals smack in the middle of Wuhan,” said Robert Garry, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Tulane University in New Orleans, who wasn’t involved in the research. It’s “a major revelation,” he said in an email.