4.8 Article

The Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan was the early epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic

Journal

SCIENCE
Volume 377, Issue 6609, Pages 951-959

Publisher

AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1126/science.abp8715

Keywords

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Funding

  1. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Health and Human Services [75N93021C00015]
  2. NIH [5T32AI00724438, F32AI152341, T15LM011271, AI135992, AI136056, R01AI153044, R01AI132223, R01AI132244, U19AI142790, U54CA260581, U54HG007480, OT2HL158260, U19AI135995, U01AI151812, UL1TR002550]
  3. Medical Research Council [MC_UU_12014/12]
  4. Wellcome Trust [220977/Z/20/Z, 206298/Z/17/Z]
  5. European Research Council [725422]
  6. Canadian Institutes of Health Research [175622]
  7. Canada Foundation for Innovation -Major Science Initiatives Fund
  8. Government of Saskatchewan through Innovation Saskatchewan and the Ministry of Agriculture
  9. European Union [874735]
  10. Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation
  11. Wellcome Trust Foundation
  12. Gilead Sciences
  13. European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership Programme
  14. Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowship [FL170100022]
  15. Wellcome Trust [220977/Z/20/Z] Funding Source: Wellcome Trust
  16. European Research Council (ERC) [725422] Funding Source: European Research Council (ERC)

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This article demonstrates that the SARS-CoV-2 virus originated from the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, China, where susceptible animals were sold in late 2019, and SARS-CoV-2-positive environmental samples were spatially associated with vendors selling live animals.
Understanding how severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) emerged in 2019 is critical to preventing future zoonotic outbreaks before they become the next pandemic. The Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, China, was identified as a likely source of cases in early reports, but later this conclusion became controversial. We show here that the earliest known COVID-19 cases from December 2019, including those without reported direct links, were geographically centered on this market. We report that live SARS-CoV-2-susceptible mammals were sold at the market in late 2019 and that within the market, SARS-CoV-2-positive environmental samples were spatially associated with vendors selling live mammals. Although there is insufficient evidence to define upstream events, and exact circumstances remain obscure, our analyses indicate that the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 occurred through the live wildlife trade in China and show that the Huanan market was the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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