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Despite the city’s eleven million residents, Wuhan was a relatively unknown name to most people before it became the epicenter of the corona pandemic.
In mid-January, experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) went to the epicenter to investigate how the corona pandemic emerged.
As a result of the trip, the WHO described the trip as valuable.
– We see new information and that is good. There are very valuable things that are beginning to help us look in the right direction of the virus, one of the WHO experts who visited Wuhan, Peter Daszak, previously said about the trip.
– New evidence
WHO Team: Data “No One Has Seen Before”
In a new interview with the US radio channel NPR, WHO expert Daszak now reveals that they have found new evidence that may say something about the origin of the virus.
In the interview, the WHO expert points to farms in southern China as the most likely source of the corona pandemic.
According to Daszak, the WHO has found evidence that the aforementioned farms delivered animals to several of the stalls at the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan, which was the place where the first corona patients were infected.
“They take exotic animals, such as civet cats, porcupines, pangolins, raccoon dogs and bamboo rats, and breed them in captivity,” the WHO expert told NPR.
Closed
Chronology: a year with a crown
The maritime market has been closed since the beginning of 2020, but WHO experts visited the market during their visit to Wuhan.
– We spoke with people who collected samples from the market floor and then tested positive. That’s the kind of information we get from a person who actually plays a role, Daszak previously told Sky News.
According to the WHO expert, the aforementioned farms were a project started by the Chinese authorities and are said to have employed 14 million people in 2015.
– convinced
On February 24 last year, the Chinese authorities closed the farms, according to the WHO expert.
For NPR, he sees the shutdown as a strong sign that authorities saw breeding as the most likely source of how viruses from bats could be transmitted to humans.
According to the radio channel, Daszak claims that farms may have been the place where the coronavirus jumped from a bat to another animal and then to humans.
– Little has been done
– I am convinced that SARS-CoV-2 jumped to the people of southern China. It looks like this, he concludes.
The Chinese authorities have yet to comment on the WHO expert’s accusations.
Postpone the report
The WHO has announced a crown report following an expert visit to Wuhan, but it emerged on Tuesday that the WHO postponed publication.
– The report is simply not finished, said WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier according to NTB.
The report should have been released on Tuesday, but now it will probably be ready next week.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in mid-February that all hypotheses about the origins of the virus are still open.
– We have always said that this mission would not find all the answers, but it has provided important information that brings us closer to understanding the origin of the virus, the WHO chief said at the time.
