Covid-19 was likely transmitted to people through an animal and probably began to spread between a month or two before it was detected in December 2019, according to a draft report from the World Health Organization ( WHO).
The least likely source: a laboratory leak, the WHO joint international team concluded.
The WHO is scheduled to release the final report of its investigation into the origin of the coronavirus on Tuesday. However, a preliminary version obtained by Citizen Free Press shows that there is still no conclusive evidence on the origin or evidence that the virus was spreading before the end of 2019.
The 4 possible sources of covid-19 mentioned by the WHO
The report raises four possible sources of the virus. The most likely scenario is that it was through an intermediary host animal, possibly a wild animal captured and then raised on a farm.
However, the research did not find which other animal was infected by a bat – considered the most likely original source of the virus – which could then have transmitted it to a human. “The possible intermediate host for SARS-CoV-2 remains imprecise,” the report reads.
The next most likely option is that it was a direct transmission from one of the animals known to carry a similar coronavirus, such as a bat or pangolin. Transmission from frozen or refrigerated foods is possible, but not likely. And the least likely is an accidental leak from a laboratory, according to the report.
Origin in a laboratory is “extremely unlikely”
Dr. Robert Redfield, former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told Citizen Free Press’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta that his personal opinion was that the virus originated in a laboratory.
Former CDC director believes covid-19 originated in a Chinese laboratory 2:53The report notes that this is “extremely unlikely.” “There is no record of viruses closely linked to SARS-CoV-2 in any laboratory before December 2019, nor genomes that in combination could provide a SARS-CoV-2 genome,” he says. “In view of the above, it was considered extremely unlikely that the origin of the pandemic was in a laboratory.”
Independent researchers have been saying this for months. Genomic testing of the virus indicates that it was not designed in a laboratory, but was transmitted naturally from animals, much like the SARS virus, which infected 8,000 people worldwide between 2002 and 2004 before being stopped.
Frozen food is also not a likely source, the report said. “There is no conclusive evidence of the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 through food and the probability of a cold chain contamination with the virus from a reservoir is very low,” he explained.
What role did the Wuhan market really play?
It’s also unclear what role the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan played. It is possible that the market was not the original source of the outbreak, but rather the crowds that gathered at the market – which was crowded, roofed and with open sewers – may have amplified the spread of the virus.
In samples taken in the market, the virus was detected on surfaces but not in samples taken from animals or food sold in the market. Also, there is evidence that the virus was circulating before the Huanan market outbreak, even in other markets.
“Many of the first cases were related to the Huanan market. But, a similar number of cases were associated with other markets and some were not associated with any market. Transmission within the broader community in December could explain the cases not associated with the Huanan market which, together with the presence of early cases not associated with that market, could suggest that the Huanan market was not the original source of the outbreak. “Added the report.
“Therefore, currently no definitive conclusion can be drawn about the role of the Huanan market in the origin of the outbreak, nor about how the infection entered the market,” concluded the WHO report on the origin of the covid- 19.
WHO research on covid-19
The report recommended that more testing be done on blood samples taken and stored before the first outbreak in December. Also more analysis of animals from Southeast Asia and a more in-depth study of the mass gatherings that could have contributed to the spread of the virus.
The report was written by a joint international team of 17 Chinese experts and 17 experts from other countries, WHO, the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) and the World Organization for Animal Health ( OIE). The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) participated as an observer.
“After initial online meetings, a joint study was conducted over a 28-day period from January 14 to February 10, 2021 in the city of Wuhan, in the People’s Republic of China,” read the report.
The WHO team that studied the origin of Covid-19 searched for evidence that the virus was circulating in China before anyone knew it.
“The epidemiology working group closely examined the possibilities of identifying previous cases of COVID-19, through surveillance studies of morbidity (disease) due to respiratory diseases in and around Wuhan in late 2019,” it reads.
“It also relied on national surveillance data, laboratory confirmations of disease, reports of retail pharmacy purchases of antipyretics (to reduce fever), cold and cough medications, a subset of stored samples of more than 4,500 Research project samples from the second half of 2019 that were in various hospitals in Wuhan, the rest of Hubei province and other provinces. In none of these studies was there evidence of an impact of the causative agent of COVID-19 on morbidity in the months prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, ”the research explained.
The WHO report on the origin of covid-19 suggests that more checks be carried out on farms as a possible source of the virus.
The “missing link”
‘Although the closest related viruses have been found in bats, the evolutionary distance between these bat viruses and SARS-CoV-2 is estimated to be several decades. Which suggests a missing link, “said the WHO report on the origin of covid-19.
Animals such as minks and rabbits are susceptible to contracting the virus, the report notes. In fact, mink farms in several countries have been the cause of covid-19 outbreaks.
‘The increasing number of animals that have been shown to be susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 includes animals that are raised in sufficient densities to allow possible enzootic circulation. High-density livestock farming is common in many places around the world and includes many species of livestock as well as farmed wild animals. There was a large network of domesticated wild animal farms, supplying cultivated wildlife. ‘
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the report is reviewed by federal government agencies, including the CDC, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health and others. Psaki indicated that these public health experts “will review this report intensively and quickly.”