A World Health Organization (WHO) expert investigating COVID-19 origins in China identifies wild animal farms in southern regions as the most probable source of the pandemic.
In late January, WHO researchers traveled to Wuhan, China, to trace the virus's roots. After intensive fieldwork, the team of 10 international scientists and 5 WHO specialists released initial findings, dismissing a lab leak from the city's P4 facility as "extremely unlikely."
Instead, evidence supports zoonotic spillover: the virus likely jumped from a reservoir species, such as horseshoe bats, to an intermediate animal host before infecting humans.
While the exact intermediate host remains unidentified, experts have pinpointed a potential starting point for the outbreak.
Peter Daszak, disease ecologist at EcoHealth Alliance and a WHO team member, implicates wild animal farms in China. Speaking to NPR, he explained that farms near Yunnan province in southern China supplied animals to Wuhan's Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, site of the first COVID-19 cases in late 2019.
Some animals may have contracted the virus from local bats.
These farms, promoted by the Chinese government for two decades to bolster rural economies, breed exotic species like civet cats, porcupines, pangolins, raccoon dogs, and bamboo rats for market sale.
In February 2020, China ordered their closure amid suspicions of links to the pandemic. Authorities instructed farmers on safely disposing of animals to halt potential transmission chains, Daszak noted.
The next phase involves pinpointing the carrier species from these farms. WHO plans to release a detailed report soon.
