Scientists have confirmed the main theory about the emergence of COVID-19

Recently published genetic evidence suggests that raccoon dogs carrying SARS-CoV-2

could be at Huanan Seafood Wholesale Marketat the end of 2019. This triggered the first recorded outbreak of COVID-19. The genetic data was uploaded to a public database and then quickly removed at the request of the Chinese team that first shared it.

An international team of scientists reported that the samplesswabs taken in early 2020 in and around the stalls of the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market contained SARS-CoV-2 genetic sequences mixed with DNA from common raccoon dogs (Nyctereutes procyonoides). Raccoon dogs, a relative of foxes with dark spots around their eyes, are known to be able to carry and transmit the coronavirus, according to The New York Times.

Scientists suggest that raccoon dogs,infected with SARS-CoV-2 may have shed the infectious virus while illegally traded in the market in December 2019. They reached their conclusions given when and how the swab samples were collected, as well as the fact that the virus cannot persist indefinitely in the environment without a host.

Their analysis has not yet been completed and not published.In addition, it cannot be considered one hundred percent proof that infected raccoon dogs were present on the market. And if the animals were infected, studies cannot show how they themselves became infected with the virus or how it spread further.

Back in February 2020, researchersanalyzed the same data, but published only part of it, without mentioning the DNA of the raccoon dog. In the preprint, they reported finding an "abundance" of Homo sapiens DNA associated with SARS-CoV-2, which they say suggests that infected people brought the virus to market. They said they did not find any evidence pointing to an animal host for the virus. But graphics in the same preprint contradict this claim, showing that animal DNA was found in admixture with SARS-CoV-2.

Critics of the widely supported hypothesis thatthat SARS-CoV-2 has crossed from animals to humans may eventually want to get more convincing evidence than research can offer,” Joel Wertheim, an evolutionary biologist, told Science.

Read more:

The secret of longevity is revealed: scientists have figured out how to start the necessary mechanism in the human body

Named a new cause of autism

2,700-year-old temple found in Sudan He surprised scientists

</ p>