"COVID-19 Likely Originated and Spread Naturally, Not from a Laboratory"

[Asia Economy Beijing=Special Correspondent Park Sun-mi] Chinese researchers argued that COVID-19 likely originated and spread naturally, refuting claims that it leaked from the Wuhan Center for Disease Control and Prevention laboratory.

According to the Global Times on the 9th, a paper involving researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the University of Sydney, posted on the life sciences preprint platform bioRxiv, suggested that COVID-19 may have emerged through natural recombination between bats and other wild animals.

Analysis of samples from 227 bats collected in Yunnan Province between May and October last year revealed that the genetic sequence homology between the virus RmYN02 found in bats and the HCoV-19 virus causing COVID-19 reached 93%.

The researchers also predicted that COVID-19 may have originated from multiple natural recombinations occurring between viruses present in bats and other wild animals, respectively.

Professor Yang Zhan-chu of Wuhan University explained, "Natural recombination is a common form of mutation in viruses," adding, "A high frequency of recombination means that the virus has multiple host animals."

Previously, some scholars raised the possibility that COVID-19 leaked from a laboratory in China. Professor Xiao Botao of South China University of Technology and others recently claimed in a report posted on the information-sharing site ResearchGate that COVID-19 might have leaked from the Wuhan Center for Disease Control and Prevention laboratory, arguing, "The Center brought in and kept several animals, including 605 bats, for research in the laboratory, and during this process, the virus may have leaked and spread."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.