Farms in China supply live animals to Huanan: WHO team on hunt for origin of Covid-19

Almost over a month after the World Health Organisation team was granted full access to all sites in and around the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan, zoologist Peter Daszak and other scientists confronted certain groundbreaking realities about the "amplification of coronavirus," while their quest to hunt the origin of the virus continues. The team has discovered certain facts about China's animal trade that is very likely to be the cause for the spread of coronavirus.
 
Scientists in the process of their research have till now discovered that the pattern for the spread of coronavirus outbreak is similar to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) that started from a market from the Guangdong province of China in 2003. They pointed out that wild civets, which are nocturnal mammals, were consumed in China and that had led to the SARS outbreak. Similarly, scientists have also found the origin of SARS to be in horseshoe bats — that typically carry coronaviruses.

Half of 99 people tested with infectious diseases were from the Huanan market

These two species—civets and the horseshoe bats, the scientists say are likely to be the main cause for the spread of SARS Cov-2, as wild animals are caged in the Huanan market, a place that witnesses buyers in bulk. The latest findings showed that of the 99 patients around Wuhan who were diagnosed with infectious diseases, over half of them were from the Huanan seafood market that houses several alive wild animals, either captured illegally, the rest slaughtered at the shops in front of the customers.

'Huanan perfect place for the spread of SARS and SARS Cov-2'

The hygiene under such circumstances is highly compromised as Joel O. Wertheim, an associate professor of medicine at the University of California, San Diego who was part of the WHO team described the scenario at Huanan. He was quoted by the leading US daily as saying that "Huanan is crowded with lots of stalls and animal products with live animals, while ventilation and drainage systems are less than what can be called standard."

'Wildlife farms supply live animals to Huanan market'

The WHO research team also discovered that Wildlife farms in South China supply wild animals to the Huanan market, Dr Peter Daszak observed who is a zoologist and part of the WHO team that is on its visit to Huanan. In a recently conducted webinar at Chatham House in London, Daszak revealed "There's a route from provinces in South China such as Yunnan that is one of the major spots for spread of coronavirus, as it was first found in horseshoe bats, in 2013." These spots are leading ways to Wuhan where the live animals are carried for sale and slaughter.

The African flu that led to the consumption of bats, reptiles

Moreover, the Chinese government has promoted meat-eating and sale for a long time to meet the country's challenges in terms of rural incomes. This practice is one valuable source of income after the African swine flu outbreak in 2018. The outbreak led to a shortage of pork, which is considered to be the major meat food of China, observed by researchers at the South China Agricultural University and the University of Glasgow.

2017 survey found 52% of markets in China trading wild animal meat

However, according to researchers, Chinese markets started getting snakes, rats, squirrels, porcupines, birds among other wild animals that are being sold to consumers. China Wildlife Association, in 2017 unearthed that 52% of markets in China were trading wildlife, while at least 40% of hotels and restaurants had wild animal dishes on their menu. Another survey showed that over 45% of Chinese people from urban areas had consumed wildlife while an additional 2.7% were regular consumers of wild animal meat.
 
Ultimately, the WHO team, to date, has found that the first traces of the coronavirus are likely to have infected an animal that was sold at the Huanan market or any other place in Wuhan, said Dominic Dwyer, a microbiologist in Sydney. The researchers are yet to rule the role of Huanan when it comes to the origin of Covid-19, however, they haven't ruled out the fact that the virus was "amplified in the Huanan seafood market."