Two independent studies, both released Saturday, point to the so-called “wet market” in Wuhan as the origin point of the 2019 coronavirus outbreak, not the Chinese infectious disease lab in the province, the New York Times reports.
Two groups looked at the spread of the virus within the local population and found the market to have been the common point of origin for early patients. The researchers believe the virus jumped from mammals in the market to humans at least once before event that triggered the global pandemic.
“When you look at all of the evidence together, it’s an extraordinarily clear picture that the pandemic started at the Huanan market,” said Michael Worobey, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Arizona and a co-author of both studies.