The initial focus of China’s latest viral pneumonia outbreak, which began in mid-December and is now actively spreading, was a wholesale seafood and wildlife market in Wuhan city, where a variety of farm and wild animals were sold.
In an attempt to trace the origin of the 2019-nCOV coronavirus that caused it, Chinese scientists conducted a detailed genetic analysis of it and compared the results with available genetic information. They concluded that 2019-nCOV is most likely a combination of two viruses: a coronavirus found in bats and another coronavirus of unknown origin.
The scientists also found evidence that the most likely wildlife reservoir for 2019-nCOV was snakes. It was from them that the virus got to humans as a result of a certain mutation that made interspecies transmission possible.
