Researchers from the University of Cambridge believe that the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) did not start in Wuhan in November, according to the Daily Mail.
Geneticist Dr. Peter Forster told Newsweek that "it is possible the outbreak did not originate in Wuhan, as until January 17, almost all the isolates were type B." The team discovered there are three variants of COVID-19: A, B, and C. They traced COVID-19's spread as well as its genetic mutations while it moved from China to the rest of the world.
The Cambridge team is tracing the source of the virus by "mapping its genetic history to identify the first person who was infected," the article said. Forster said the outbreak may have started between September 13 and December 7.
Dr. Forster's claim is a month earlier than what The Guardian previously reported. It said a 55-year-old man from the Hubei province contracted the disease. "The earliest case was 17 November - weeks before authorities announced the emergence of the new virus," the article said.
Not everyone's type
The Cambridge team charted the spread of the virus and its genetic mutations as "it moved from China to Australia to Europe and the rest of the world," according to Newsweek. They discovered that COVID-19 has three variants: A, B, and C.
Variant A is the closest type of coronavirus found in bats, thought to be the original human virus genome. This transferred from pangolins to bats, manifesting in seven out of 11 samples in Guandong province, 500 miles from Wuhan. It is found in Chinese and American patients and has mutated versions in Australian and patients in the U.S.
Variant B was the result of the founder event or the establishment of a new population from variant A. It came from type A via two mutations. This is the most dominant coronavirus strain at ground-zero and is found in major parts of the United Kingdom and Europe.
Variant C is an offshoot of type B, mutating from the secondary strain and spreading to Europe and Australia via Singapore. It is considered to be variant B's daughter, "with one mutation different to parent variation," according to the Daily Mail. It is also The Journal PNAS "initially suggested that type C was the most common in Europe.
Eat's not that simple
People who were exposed to Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market were the first ones to be infected. According to the Daily Mail, "Some of the earliest infections were found in people who had exposure to Wuhan's seafood market, where bats, snakes, civets and other wildlife were sold."
Even though other markets may not have been responsible for the spread of the coronavirus, China closed all wet markets. However, some experts are uncertain as to where and how the virus made the leap from animals to humans.
But in a recent article from Science Times citing Steve Mosher revealed, "a recent Chinese research paper that was showing how the coronavirus originated from a Wuhan biolab and not from bats being sold at the market had just been censored by communist authorities from online publication."
