A global study published in Cell challenges the theory that COVID-19 originated in a Wuhan lab. Researchers analyzed 167 bat coronavirus genomes, tracing the virus's origins to bat populations in northern Laos and Yunnan province, China.
The study, led by the University of Edinburgh and involving 20 institutions, focused on sarbecoviruses (coronaviruses causing severe respiratory illness). Researchers analyzed genomic data to trace the evolutionary path of the virus.
The findings contradict claims made by the White House, which attributed the pandemic's origin to a Chinese lab leak. The study provides evidence suggesting a natural origin of the virus in bat populations several years prior to the pandemic's emergence.
The study suggests the most recent ancestor of Sars-CoV-2 circulated in bat populations five to seven years before the pandemic began. Similar to the SARS outbreak of 2002-2004, this research also highlights that the ancestral virus of SARS-CoV-1 was circulating in western China one to two years before the outbreak.
This research provides compelling evidence supporting a natural origin for COVID-19, countering prevailing alternative narratives. The large-scale collaborative effort across multiple institutions strengthens the study's findings.
The study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Cell on May 7, was led by the University of Edinburgh and involved researchers from 20 institutions across the US, Europe, and Asia, including China.
The team analysed 167 bat coronavirus genomes and traced the origins of the virus that causes Covid-19 to bat populations in northern Laos and southwest China’s Yunnan province, where its most recent ancestor circulated five to seven years before the pandemic emerged.
Lead author Jonathan Pekar said the study showed that the original Sars-CoV-1 was circulating in western China just a year or two before Sars emerged in the southern province of Guangdong in late 2002.
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