Experts Suggest Novel Coronavirus Originated From Lab in Wuhan

By Mary Quill First Posted: Feb 19, 2020 01:35 AM EST

Newly Published Research Believes Novel Coronavirus Originated from a Chinese Lab in Wuhan

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The South China University of Technology released a new report that suggests that the dangerous COVID-19 or the novel coronavirus may have originated from the Wuhan Centre for Virology and the Wuhan Centre for Disease Control (WCDC). This newly found information may scrap the initial theories proposed as the origin of the virus now considered a global health threat. The virus was reported to have infected more than 69,000 individuals. It had already taken the lives of 1,667 people from different parts of the world since the earlier parts of January.

Past reports stated that the novel coronavirus came from Wuhan's Hunan Seafood Market in China. The market is widely known as a trading center for wild meat for human consumption such as bats and wolves. The scientists who conducted studies about the virus stated that the virus may have transferred from exotic animals to humans.

New Research Discovery

A newly published report entitled 'The Possible Origins of the 2019-nCoV Coronavirus' from the South China University of Technology revealed that the deadly virus did not come from the Wuhan Market but a laboratory owned by the Chinese government in Wuhan. The laboratory is located approximately 300 yards from the Hunan Seafood Market in Wuhan, China.

An article from Latin Times states that the writers of the research were Lei Xiao and Botao Xiao. Their published study stated that the WCDC may have produced the virus in the province of Hubei where Wuhan is situated.

In January, before the virus started to make headlines on world television, the WCDC had detained disease-ridden animals. Among those animals were 605 bats.

The published research also stated that a bat had urinated on a researcher in the lab. It was also included in the published study that the bats had also attacked one of the researchers.

After the incident, it was included in the research paper that the researcher had engaged himself to self-quarantine.

The research paper stated that 89% or 96% of the genome sequences of the infected patients were similar to the Bat CoV ZC45 coronavirus. The CoV ZC45 coronavirus is typically found in intermediate horseshoe bats.

Also, the research paper revealed that the type of bat which the novel coronavirus originated from is not a native wild animal in Wuhan. The bats that carried that deadly virus live more than 600 miles away from Wuhan. These bats were the species being examined in the WCDC before the news of the outbreak broke world news.

The Origin of the Novel Coronavirus

The paper also revealed that the WCDC was close to the Union Hospital. The Union Hospital was the place where the first group of medical professionals got infected with the 2019-nCoV.

The paper stated that there is a possibility that the virus may have been leaked around and some of the viruses were transmitted to the first patients of the virus infection. However, the paper said that further proof is still needed to strongly support these claims.