Originally Posted by
AllWobbly
Point taken. However this particular virus closely resembles those found in bats and pangolins and has not been (previously) the focus of study because of its lack of impact on humans.
Most of the “hypotheses” re viral escape are from the US. I take anything that can be used as political capital with a big pinch of salt.
Also with their history re id seriously doubt if they didnt have their act sorted.
The pangolin is part of the wet market lie. This virus originated from a horseshoe bat. Even Chinese university researchers acknowledge this to be true with 97-98% certainty. We also know that horseshoe bats don’t live anywhere remotely close to Wuhan but several hundred miles to the west. These bats are known to be studied at the P4 virology lab in Wuhan, but not sold at the Wuhan wet market. What is not known is how the virus got from the bat to humans, and whether or not there was an intermediate species between the two. However, the likelihood of this species being a pangolin which is sold at the wet market is almost zero. Keep in mind that more than a third of the first 50 cases had no (zero) connection to the wet market.