New Data Suggests COVID Originated From Raccoon Dogs in Wuhan Market

What’s the story?

• New data found strong evidence suggesting that COVID-19 originated from infected animals, specifically raccoon dogs, at a market in Wuhan, China. 
• The analysis, conducted by an international group of researchers, uncovered genetic data that could prove raccoon dogs were carrying and infecting other animals with SARS-CoV-2. Genetic material from raccoon dogs was found on some of the first swabs that tested positive for COVID, implying that the animals could have been the initial host. 
• The findings are not yet conclusive or published, but they were presented to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens. The new details have fueled the topical debate on the origin of COVID-19. Experts say this genetic evidence adds some of the strongest support to the wild-animal theory yet.  

Where did the data come from? 

• The data was posted on the global virology database, GISAID, by Chinese researchers who collected genetic sequences from the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market. The data has since been removed. 
• Scientist Florence Débarre was the first to notice the new data at Cultivarium, a nonprofit group focused on open-source tools for research. After realizing the importance of the data, she shared it with an international team. Alexander Crits-Christopher, senior scientist in Computational Biology at the organization, said: 

“This team then immediately contacted the data generators in the hopes of open communication and collaboration… [and] alerted the WHO about the presence of the data, and the WHO helped mediate that communication.”

• WHO is asking Chinese officials to release any further information that may link raccoon dogs to the coronavirus. WHO epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove said this information should have been released years ago. She continued: 

“Any data that exists on the study of the origins of this pandemic need to be made available immediately.” 

• Virologist Angela Rasmussen emphasized that the data doesn’t prove that the raccoon dogs were infected at the market. She said: 

“We don’t have proof of the so-called smoking raccoon dog. We just have evidence that the animals were in the same part of the market where we know there was virus…[it’s] more likely that an animal contributed the viral sequences that were in there.”

Other theories 

• Intelligence officials in the Department of Energy (DOE) announced last month that an accidental laboratory leak in China was most likely the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to the DOE, the FBI concluded with "moderate confidence" that the virus leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China.
• Some officials say the validity of the information is relatively weak and that the DOE made the ruling with “low confidence.” Other agencies received the same information and did not come to the exact conclusion.

Do you think Chinese researchers should have released this data earlier? 

-Jamie Epstein

(Photo credit: iStock/Musat)