Coronavirus may not have originated from Wuhan, study finds

Scientists of Institut Pasteur in Paris have recently published a study that concludes that the coronavirus, infamously being called 'the China virus', may not have originated from Wuhan (China).

The research, which has not been peer-reviewed yet, was led by virologists Dr Sylvie van der Werf and Etienne Simon-Loriere.

This study putsFrance on the list of countries whereno direct link between China and local outbreaks could be established. Genetic analysis shows that the dominant stains did not come from the clade,a group of organisms believed to comprise all the evolutionary descendants of a common ancestor, could not be traced back to China or Italy.

The scientistscollected more than 90 samples of patients across the county and found out that their genetic sequences couldnot be connected with the cases imported from China.

This became clearer as they found out that the first patient of coronavirus in France was tested onFebruary 19, and he had no travel history to China, and had not even come in contact with any of the recent travellers too. Thus, the researchers believe thatthe virus was circulating undetected through local transmission in France in February.

The researchers told a media organization, "The hypothesis is: compatible with the large proportion of mild or asymptomatic diseases and observations in other European countries."

Benjamin Neuman, professor and chair of biological sciences with the Texas A&M University-Texarkana, believes, "Since the earliest European strains of Sars-CoV-2 seem to be associated with Belgium, the idea that the virus spread from Belgium to both Italy and France at around the same time seems plausible, as this paper contends."