A team of World Health Organization researchers in China investigating the origins of the coronavirus told CNN that they now have months of Chinese flu data that may contain vital clues about the early spread of the virus.
On Sunday, the team visited the wet market that was considered essential for the spread of the disease: the Huanan Seafood Market, now disinfected and closed, in Wuhan City, where doctors observed an initial group of similar diseases. to pneumonia in mid-December 2019 The market has become Covid-19’s anecdotal “zero zero”, although later studies have suggested it may have started elsewhere.
Peter Ben Embarek, WHO team leader and food safety specialist, told CNN that “even if the site had been disinfected to some extent, all the shops are there – and the equipment it gives you a good idea of the state of the market in terms of maintenance, infrastructure, hygiene and flow of goods and people. ”The team was able to talk to locals and workers, Ben Embarek said. He warned that it was too early in his investigations to draw conclusions.
“Clearly something happened in this market,” Ben Embarek said. “But it could also be that other places had the same role and only one was chosen because some doctors were smart enough to relate some sporadic cases.”
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