WHO advisory group suggests Huanan seafood market in China’s Wuhan played important role in amplification of Covid-19 pandemic

Kathmandu: An early investigation into the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus by a World Health Organization (WHO) advisory group suggested that the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan, China played an important role in the amplification of the pandemic. However, further investigations are recommended.

In their first report, a WHO advisory group, Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (Sago) said that key recommendations are provided for further studies needed on humans, animals and the environment in China and around the world that would provide additional information and contribute to a better understanding of how SARS-CoV-2 infected the human population and spread.

At the present time, currently available epidemiological and sequencing data suggest ancestral strains to SARS-CoV-2 have a zoonotic origin with the closest genetically related viruses being beta coronaviruses,identified in Rhinolophus bats in China in 2013 and Laos in 2020.