New Covid-19 origins data points to raccoon dogs in China market

A new analysis of specimens collected in 2020 in Wuhan found evidence of the virus along with genetic material from raccoon dogs, according to scientists

WHO director general criticised China for not sharing the genetic information earlier, saying ‘this data could have and should have been shared three years ago’

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The raccoon dog is native to Japan and China. Photo: AFP via Getty Images/TNS

Published: 8:00am, 18 Mar 2023Updated: 8:37am, 18 Mar 2023

Genetic material collected at a Chinese market near where the first human cases of Covid-19 were identified show raccoon dog DNA co-mingled with the virus, adding evidence to the theory that the virus originated from animals, not from a lab, international experts say.

“These data do not provide a definitive answer to how the pandemic began, but every piece of data is important to moving us closer to that answer,” World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday.

How the coronavirus emerged remains unclear. Many scientists believe it most likely jumped from animals to people, as many other viruses have in the past, at a wildlife market in Wuhan, China. But Wuhan is home to several labs involved in collecting and studying coronaviruses, fuelling theories scientists say are plausible that the virus may have leaked from one.

WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Photo: Reuters

The new findings do not settle the question, and they have not been formally reviewed by other experts or published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Tedros criticised China for not sharing the genetic information earlier, telling a press briefing that “this data could have and should have been shared three years ago.”

The samples were collected from surfaces at the Huanan seafood market in early 2020 in Wuhan, where the first human cases of Covid-19 were found in late 2019.

Tedros said the genetic sequences were recently uploaded to the world’s biggest public virus database by scientists at the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.