A new study supports the theory that the coronavirus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic originated from Hunan Seafood Wholesale wet market in Wuhan, China.

The samples were collected by Chinese officials in the early stages of Covid and are one of the most scientifically valuable sources of information on the origins of the pandemic. An early link with the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market was established when patients appeared in hospitals in Wuhan with a mystery pneumonia.

Samples taken in the pandemic's early weeks reinforce hypothesis that coronavirus emerged from live animal market, not a laboratory, new study says.

A recent international study offers new insights into the wildlife species likely present at the Wuhan market where SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind the COVID-19 pandemic, is believed to have emerged in late 2019.

The new analysis – of metagenomic RNA data collected shortly after the market was shut down – also supports accumulating evidence for SARS-CoV-2 's origin. The first signs of trouble were in Wuhan, the capital of China's Hubei province,