since the beginning of the pandemic, scientists have been combing through case reports, using mapping tools and geographical analysis to figure out the origin of the virus that has so far killed more than six million people worldwide. and though throughout the last two years there have been suspicions of a lab leak, two newly published studies show the virus to have originated at the huanan seafood market in wuhan, china.
one of the studies, published in the journal science , suggests that, based on human cases of covid-19, the virus existed in live animals sold at the western side of the market in late 2019. the researchers noted that while the people who first reported signs of covid-19 had no connection to the market, they did live or work nearby — an “indication that the virus started spreading in people who worked at the market but then started that spread … into the surrounding local community as vendors went into local shops, infected people who worked in those shops,” said study co-author, michael worobey, the department head of ecology and evolutionary biology at the university of arizona.
the second study suggests that there were two different coronaviruses that they call a and b — the result of at least two cross-species transmission into humans. the scientists posit that the first animal-to-human transmission came from the b virus — which was only found in those with a direct connection to the huanan market. the a virus was identified in samples from people who spent time close to the market.
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in keeping with its zero-covid policy, china has shut down jiangxia, a district of wuhan that’s home to almost a million people after authorities identified four asymptomatic covid cases, reports ctv news .
president biden is feeling better after his bout with covid, according to the guardian . he ended a five-day course of the antiviral paxlovid yesterday and tested negative this morning. this is good news, especially since at age 79, biden is considered high-risk. but biden’s recovery is more than just a good news story — politico reports that the white house is also using it to give props to its booster campaign and grow public confidence in the fact the vaccines and treatments are critical to preventing serious illness.
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