A new coronavirus outbreak&nbsp;Beijing&nbsp;that has infected more than 300 people since early June could&nbsp;have&nbsp;originated in South or Southeast&nbsp;Asia, according to a&nbsp;study&nbsp;by&nbsp;Harvard&nbsp;University researchers.

According to the China Centre for Disease&nbsp;Control and Prevention, the study is based the genetic sequencing of three virus strains and it shows that the&nbsp;virus found in&nbsp;Beijing&nbsp;cases is an imported&nbsp;strain&nbsp;of&nbsp;COVID-19.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/swine-flu-strain-with-human-pandemic-potential-found-increasingly-in-china-309525">Swine flu strain with 'human pandemic potential' found increasingly in China</a>

7,643 samples from across the world were compared with these genes by&nbsp;Georg Hahn, a research associate with the Biostatistics Department of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and his team.

The&nbsp;Harvard&nbsp;study was&nbsp;published on the preprint website medRxiv.org on Wednesday and still has to be peer-reviewed.

The three genomes showed the greatest resemblance to cases in Europe&nbsp;from&nbsp;February to&nbsp;May, and to cases in South and Southeast&nbsp;Asia&nbsp;from&nbsp;May&nbsp;to June.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/beijings-xinfadi-market-in-focus-after-virus-reportedly-detected-on-salmon-chopping-boards-306196">Beijing's Xinfadi market in focus after virus reportedly detected on salmon chopping boards</a>

They were also similar to a small number of infections&nbsp;seen in China in March, suggesting the&nbsp;strain&nbsp;could&nbsp;have&nbsp;appeared first in China and then returned to the country three months later, the authors said.

"As the most recent cases in these&nbsp;branches are almost exclusively&nbsp;from&nbsp;South(east)&nbsp;Asia, this could suggest that the new cases in&nbsp;Beijing&nbsp;were re-introduced by transmissions&nbsp;from&nbsp;South(east)&nbsp;Asia," they wrote.

The&nbsp;outbreak&nbsp;traced to&nbsp;Beijing's huge Xinfadi wholesale market on June 11 had infected 329 people by the end of Wednesday.

Quarantine restrictions and large-scale testing of residents began soon after the first cases were identified, and China also required all shipments of imported meat to be tested for&nbsp;COVID-19&nbsp;before they could leave its ports.

The study comes amid the emergence of a swine flu strain with ''human pandemic potential'' found increasingly in Chinese slaughterhouses and&nbsp;can grow and multiply in the cells lining human airways.

The SARS-CoV-2 virus was believed to&nbsp;have&nbsp;originated in a market in the central Chinese&nbsp;city of Wuhan in December last year and has now infected more than 10 million people and killed more than 500,000 worldwide.

However, some studies suggest it could&nbsp;have&nbsp;been circulating much earlier after crossing the species barrier&nbsp;from&nbsp;horseshoe bats native not only to southwest China, but also Laos and Myanmar.

A new coronavirus outbreak Beijing that has infected more than 300 people since early June could have originated in South or Southeast Asia, according to a study by Harvard University researchers.

A new coronavirus outbreak Beijing that has infected more than 300 people since early June could have originated in South or Southeast Asia, according to a study by Harvard University researchers. According to the China Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, the study is based the genetic sequencing of three virus strains and it shows that the virus found in Beijing cases is an imported strain of COVID-19. Also read: Swine flu strain with 'human pandemic potential' found increasingly in China 7,643 samples from across the world were compared with these genes by Georg Hahn, a research associate with the Biostatistics Department of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and his team. The Harvard study was published on the preprint website medRxiv.org on Wednesday and still has to be peer-reviewed. The three genomes showed the greatest resemblance to cases in Europe from February to May, and to cases in South and Southeast Asia from May to June. Also read: Beijing's Xinfadi market in focus after virus reportedly detected on salmon chopping boards They were also similar to a small number of infections seen in China in March, suggesting the strain could have appeared first in China and then returned to the country three months later, the authors said. "As the most recent cases in these branches are almost exclusively from South(east) Asia, this could suggest that the new cases in Beijing were re-introduced by transmissions from South(east) Asia," they wrote. The outbreak traced to Beijing's huge Xinfadi wholesale market on June 11 had infected 329 people by the end of Wednesday. Quarantine restrictions and large-scale testing of residents began soon after the first cases were identified, and China also required all shipments of imported meat to be tested for COVID-19 before they could leave its ports. The study comes amid the emergence of a swine flu strain with ''human pandemic potential'' found increasingly in Chinese slaughterhouses and can grow and multiply in the cells lining human airways. The SARS-CoV-2 virus was believed to have originated in a market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in December last year and has now infected more than 10 million people and killed more than 500,000 worldwide. However, some studies suggest it could have been circulating much earlier after crossing the species barrier from horseshoe bats native not only to southwest China, but also Laos and Myanmar.

COVID-19 strain in Beijing outbreak may have come from Southeast Asia: Study

China has halted imports from European salmon suppliers amid fears they may be linked to a&nbsp;coronavirus&nbsp;outbreak at a&nbsp;Beijing market, although experts say the fish itself is unlikely to carry the disease.

State-run newspapers reported that the virus was discovered on chopping boards used for imported salmon at Beijing’s Xinfadi market, at the centre of a cluster of infections that has sparked fears of a second wave of the pandemic in China.

The reports prompted major supermarkets in Beijing to remove salmon from their shelves.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/beijing-shuts-schools-again-after-coronavirus-flares-in-city-306388" hreflang="en">Beijing shuts schools again after coronavirus flares in city</a>

“We can’t send any salmon to China now, the market is closed,” Regin Jacobsen, chief executive of Oslo-based salmon supplier Bakkafrost, told Reuters.

“We have stopped all sales to China and are waiting for the situation to be clarified,” said Stein Martinsen, head of sales and marketing at Norway Royal Salmon.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/beijing-airports-cancel-1255-flights-over-coronavirus-fears-report-306395" hreflang="en">Beijing airports cancel 1,255 flights over coronavirus fears: Report</a>

<iframe data-google-container-id="5" data-load-complete="true" frameborder="0" height="1" id="google_ads_iframe_/8134/scmp/web/china_society/article/outstream1_0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" name="google_ads_iframe_/8134/scmp/web/china_society/article/outstream1_0" scrolling="no" srcdoc="" title="3rd party ad content" width="1"></iframe>Genetic traces of the virus from the Beijing market outbreak suggested it could have come from Europe.

Keith Neal, an emeritus professor of the epidemiology of infectious diseases at Britain’s University of Nottingham, said any link to salmon was probably the result of cross-contamination.

“Markets can be crowded places, so, like in Wuhan, [they] help fuel the spread,” he said. The central Chinese city of Wuhan was where the virus was first reported in late December.

Marion Koopmans, head of the viroscience department at the Erasmus University Medical Centre in Rotterdam, said that with limited data it was difficult to know whether the specific genetic sequence detected in cases from the Beijing market could indeed be linked to Europe.

“There’s mention of a European sequence, but it’s hard to say that with certainty unless there’s a lot of other data on virus diversity in China,” Koopmans said.

“It’s hard for me to understand what they mean by a European strain. What we have seen with the global spread of the virus is that it is diversifying because it gets introduced to different areas and continues to circulate, so you see a signature that looks like this is now a ‘European virus’, but that same signature may also be circulating in Asia – we don’t know.”

Speaking at a press briefing on Monday, Mike Ryan, head of the World Health Organisation’s emergency programme, said he “fully expects” China to publish the genetic sequencing of the virus when it is ready.

“The finding that this may represent a strain more common in transmission in Europe is important and it may reflect human-to-human transmission more than any other hypotheses,” he was quoted by Reuters as saying.

Ryan also said the claim that the new infections in Beijing may have been caused by importing or packaging of salmon was just a “hypothesis”.

The possible link to salmon has already caused panic among consumers and prompted some restaurants to remove it from their menu.

The city’s Food and Environmental Hygiene Department had on Monday taken samples of salmon imported from countries including Norway, Chile, Ireland, Iceland and Denmark for testing. All 16 samples tested negative for the coronavirus.

China has halted imports from European salmon suppliers amid fears they may be linked to a coronavirus outbreak at a Beijing market, although experts say the fish itself is unlikely to carry the disease.

China has halted imports from European salmon suppliers amid fears they may be linked to a coronavirus outbreak at a Beijing market, although experts say the fish itself is unlikely to carry the disease. State-run newspapers reported that the virus was discovered on chopping boards used for imported salmon at Beijing’s Xinfadi market, at the centre of a cluster of infections that has sparked fears of a second wave of the pandemic in China. The reports prompted major supermarkets in Beijing to remove salmon from their shelves. Also read: Beijing shuts schools again after coronavirus flares in city “We can’t send any salmon to China now, the market is closed,” Regin Jacobsen, chief executive of Oslo-based salmon supplier Bakkafrost, told Reuters. “We have stopped all sales to China and are waiting for the situation to be clarified,” said Stein Martinsen, head of sales and marketing at Norway Royal Salmon. Also read: Beijing airports cancel 1,255 flights over coronavirus fears: Report Genetic traces of the virus from the Beijing market outbreak suggested it could have come from Europe. Keith Neal, an emeritus professor of the epidemiology of infectious diseases at Britain’s University of Nottingham, said any link to salmon was probably the result of cross-contamination. “Markets can be crowded places, so, like in Wuhan, [they] help fuel the spread,” he said. The central Chinese city of Wuhan was where the virus was first reported in late December. Marion Koopmans, head of the viroscience department at the Erasmus University Medical Centre in Rotterdam, said that with limited data it was difficult to know whether the specific genetic sequence detected in cases from the Beijing market could indeed be linked to Europe. “There’s mention of a European sequence, but it’s hard to say that with certainty unless there’s a lot of other data on virus diversity in China,” Koopmans said. “It’s hard for me to understand what they mean by a European strain. What we have seen with the global spread of the virus is that it is diversifying because it gets introduced to different areas and continues to circulate, so you see a signature that looks like this is now a ‘European virus’, but that same signature may also be circulating in Asia – we don’t know.” Speaking at a press briefing on Monday, Mike Ryan, head of the World Health Organisation’s emergency programme, said he “fully expects” China to publish the genetic sequencing of the virus when it is ready. “The finding that this may represent a strain more common in transmission in Europe is important and it may reflect human-to-human transmission more than any other hypotheses,” he was quoted by Reuters as saying. Ryan also said the claim that the new infections in Beijing may have been caused by importing or packaging of salmon was just a “hypothesis”. The possible link to salmon has already caused panic among consumers and prompted some restaurants to remove it from their menu. The city’s Food and Environmental Hygiene Department had on Monday taken samples of salmon imported from countries including Norway, Chile, Ireland, Iceland and Denmark for testing. All 16 samples tested negative for the coronavirus.

Now, China halts salmon imports over possible link to Beijing outbreak

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COVID-19 strain in Beijing outbreak may have come from Southeast Asia: Study

Now, China halts salmon imports over possible link to Beijing outbreak