Gisaid data move boosts hopes of establishing Covid-19 origins
Genomic data relating to Covid-19 has been made fully available again, assisting independent assessment of a potential animal link to the outbreak of coronavirus in China in late 2019.
Global genomic repository Gisaid made the data, which was first made available this January by researchers affiliated to the Chinese Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, accessible again on Tuesday. Analysis of the data found molecular evidence that animals including raccoon dogs on sale in late 2019 at a Wuhan market were susceptible to being infected by Sars-Cov-2, the virus that causes Covid-19.
Wuhan, where the virus is thought to have originated, hosts a laboratory called the Wuhan Institute of Virology which is known to have conducted viral experiments. The central Chinese city of 12mn people also hosts the Huanan wet market, to which early cases of the disease in late 2019 were linked.
This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Donato Paolo Mancini
