The coronavirus may have emerged from a Wuhan laboratory leak, which studies deadly pathogens such as the SARS virus, scientists suggest.
Health officials believe that the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which causes the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), originated from wild animals sold in the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan City, which is home to 11 million residents.
Now, a team of scientists from Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden of Chinese Academy of Sciences, South China Agricultural University, and Chinese Institute for Brain Research wrote in a paper published on ChinaXiv, about an alternative source of the coronavirus that is currently spreading across the globe.
The scientists say they have found genomic evidence that the seafood market is not the actual source of the outbreak. Instead, they point the source of the virus outbreak to a laboratory that studies potent viruses.
The Wuhan Virology Institute researches some of the world's most dangerous pathogens. It is China's first Biosafety Level 4 laboratory, the highest security level needed to isolate dangerous biological agents in an enclosed facility.
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