Covid 19 coronavirus: China’s new claim on the origin of the virus – India

A team of Chinese scientists claim to have proof that the Covid-19 pandemic did not originate in China; instead, investigators have blamed another country.

Scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences published a research article claiming that the first cases of coronavirus appeared in India before traveling to Wuhan.

The document claims that the source of the virus could have been humans and wild animals sharing the same water source due to a major heat wave in India and Pakistan in 2019.

“The scarcity of water caused wild animals like monkeys to get involved in the deadly fight for water with each other and surely would have increased the possibility of human-wild animal interactions.”

However, other experts have questioned these claims, calling the document “partial” and “very flawed”.

The group used phylogenetic analysis in an attempt to trace the origin of the virus through different mutations, arguing that the strain with the fewest mutations would be the original.

With this in mind, the researchers argued that the first cases could not have occurred in Wuhan, rather than pointing the finger at India and Bangladesh because virus strains with low mutations were recorded in those areas.

The scientists went on to claim that the source of the virus could have been humans and wild animals sharing the same water source.

“From May to June 2019, the second longest recorded heat wave swept through north-central India and Pakistan, creating a serious water crisis in this region,” the document reads.

“The scarcity of water caused wild animals like monkeys to get involved in the deadly fight for water with each other and would surely have increased the possibility of human-wild animal interactions.

“We speculate that the [animal to human] Sars-CoV-2 transmission could be associated with this unusual heat wave. “

This is not the first time Chinese officials have tried to deflect blame from where the virus started, previously noting that the United States and Italy have the first cases of Covid-19.

Not everyone is convinced by the new research work.

Professor David Robertson, director of viral genomics and bioinformatics at the University of Glasgow, called the paper “very flawed”.

“The author’s approach to identifying the ‘least mutated’ virus sequences is inherently biased,” he told the Daily Mail.

“The authors have also ignored the extensive epidemiological data available that shows a clear emergency in China and that the virus spread from there.

“This document adds nothing to our understanding of Sars-CoV-2.”