Amid global pressure, China takes U-turn, says COVID-19 virus has ‘multiple origins’

Earlier, the Chinese study into the origin of the COVID-19 virus has suggested that the virus, which caused havoc on the globe, had its origin in the famous Huanan seafood market in Wuhan.

With China facing massive global pressure over the origin of the Coronavirus pandemic, the Asian giant’s scientists have come up with an absolutely new theory that the COVID-19 virus may not have its origin in the Wuhan seafood market, while revealing on Wednesday that new evidence suggests “multiple origins of the transmission of the virus”.

People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party wrote on Wednesday, “Chinese scientists have discovered a novel Coronavirus clade that is different from that shared among patients connected to the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan, which provides new evidence that the market may not be the origin of the virus that caused the pandemic.”

On the new theory of the virus origin, the paper says, “Scientists collected viral genome samples from 326 patients in Shanghai between January 20 and February 25. They identified two major clades, both of which included cases diagnosed in early December 2019. The scientists noticed that genomes of six patients with contact history related to the Huanan seafood market fell into one kind of clade while those of three other patients diagnosed in the same period but without exposure to the market clustered into the other clade, suggesting multiple origins of transmission in Shanghai.”

Earlier, the Chinese study into the origin of the COVID-19 virus has suggested that the virus, which caused havoc on the globe, had its origin in the famous Huanan seafood market in Wuhan. However, the US, especially its President Donald Trump, was not convinced by the claims of China on the origin of the virus.

The development comes as the US and several European countries asked for a thorough probe to ascertain the origin of the virus. Several scientists speculated that the virus could be leaked from a Chinese bio-lab.

The Huanan seafood market was previously deemed to be the origin of the novel Coronavirus, but now research indicates that the speculation may not be right.

The Huanan seafood market is more like a victim of COVID-19, rather than the origin of the novel Coronavirus, Gao Fu, director of the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and member of the National Committee of the 13th Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, had told the media on Monday.

Gao said that he had gone to Wuhan to collect samples for COVID-19 researchers in early January, but no viruses were detected in the animal samples. Viruses were only found in environmental samples, including sewage, wrote the People’s Daily.

Earlier, a total of 62 countries, including India, backed a joint effort by Australia and European Union, calling for an independent inquiry into the World Health Organisation’s response to the Coronavirus pandemic, according to a draft resolution proposed for the 73rd World Health Assembly (WHA) meeting.

The draft called for “impartial, independent and comprehensive” probe into the Coronavirus crisis. Besides, an inquiry into the actions of the WHO and “their timelines pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic”.

The resolution had, meanwhile, put pressure on China as it has been widely speculated that the novel Coronavirus emerged from the wet markets in the country, jumping species from bat to human.

The resolution didn’t mention China’s name but said that there is need to continue to work closely with other organizations to “identify the zoonotic source of the virus and the route of introduction to human population, including possible role of intermediate hosts” and to enable this through “collaborative field missions.”

In March, a draft proposal to the UN Security Council prepared by Estonia highlighted “growing concern about the unprecedented extent of the COVID-19 outbreak in the world, which may constitute a threat to international peace and security.”

The draft also called for “full transparency” over the outbreak, which clearly referred to growing criticism that China is hiding vital details about origin about the virus.

Following this, the China’s Mission to the UN tweeted that COVID-19 “is a common enemy of all of us. China is also a victim. China has successfully contained the spreading of the pandemic and is doing its utmost in helping other countries. We will never accept stigma, discrimination or politicization on this issue.”

US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has repeatedly said that the deadly novel Coronavirus came from China and that his administration was not going to take it lightly.

Trump also has been very critical and vocal of China’s inability to control the spread of COVID-19 within its territory.

Globally, the number of infections has reached 5,589,932 with death toll climbing to 350,456, according to Johns Hopkins data.

The United States remains the most affected country with maximum number of cases at 1,681,212 infections and 98,916 deaths. The US is followed by Brazil at 391,222 cases and Russia at 362,342 cases.

(With inputs from IANS)