Scientists probing the origins of the coronavirus are wrapping up a lengthy investigation in China and have found "important clues” about a Wuhan seafood market’s role in the outbreak.
Peter Daszak, a New York-based zoologist assisting the World Health Organization-sponsored mission, said he anticipates the main findings will be released before his planned Feb. 10 departure. Speaking from the central city of Wuhan, where COVID-19 mushroomed in December 2019, Daszak said the 14-member group worked with experts in China and visited key hot spots and research centers to uncover "some real clues about what happened.”
Investigators want to know how the SARS-CoV-2 virus — whose closest known relative came from bats 1,000 miles away — spread explosively in Wuhan before causing the worst contagion in more than a century. Daszak said the investigation heralds a turning point in pandemic mitigation.