Video Distorts Early Coronavirus Research To Promote Baseless Bioweapon Conspiracy Theory

The exact origin of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the disease COVID-19, remains unknown. Many scientists think that the virus likely originated in bats and then jumped to humans either directly or indirectly, through contact with an animal. Such zoonotic transfers have happened before with the coronaviruses responsible for SARS and MERS.

A paper  in Science in July 2022 analyzed the available evidence and implicated the wildlife trade and the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, China, as the site of the spillover. The earliest COVID-19 cases — even the ones with no known connection to the market — cluster around the market, and animals susceptible to SARS-CoV-2, such as raccoon dogs, are  in the market in late 2019. A  analyzing genomic data also argues slightly different versions of the virus spilled over twice — an unlikely occurrence if it had come