It has been nearly 5 years since COVID-19 began sweeping across the world, beginning in Wuhan China. Now, after extensive genetic tracking scientists say they have discovered the definitive origin of the virus. Veuer’s Tony Spitz has the details.
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00:00It has been nearly 5 years since COVID-19 began sweeping across the world.
00:04Now, after extensive genetic tracking,
00:06scientists say they have discovered the definitive origin of the virus.
00:10The analysis looked at metagenomic RNA data taken from the stalls of captive animals at
00:15a wet market in Wuhan before it was shuttered.
00:17The animals had already been removed when the samples were collected.
00:20However, they captured what they called DNA and RNA ghosts from many of the species.
00:25They then corroborated those with genotyping their mitochondrial genomes,
00:29revealing the species and also where the COVID virus was present,
00:32with the researchers finding that the novel coronavirus
00:35was discovered in the stalls of raccoon dogs and civets.
00:39With the researchers saying about their findings,
00:41we are seeing the DNA and RNA ghosts of these animals in the environmental samples,
00:46and some are in the stalls where SARS-CoV-2 was found too.
00:49This is what you would expect under a scenario in which there were infected animals in the market.
00:53The researchers also conducted an evolutionary analysis of the viral genomes,
00:58finding it was unlikely the virus inhabited humans prior to the animal infections.
01:02Experts say they are hopeful this investigation will finally eliminate
01:05the widely circulated rumors that the COVID pandemic started in a lab.