'Virus did NOT come from animals in Wuhan market', landmark study claims as Beijing thwarts global efforts to establish the source of Covid-19
The paper here more or less confirms the news report:The Mail on Sunday can reveal that analysis of the coronavirus by specialist biologists suggests that all available data shows it was taken into the market by someone already carrying the disease.
They also say they were ‘surprised’ to find the virus was ‘already pre-adapted to human transmission’, contrasting it to another coronavirus that evolved rapidly as it spread around the planet in a previous epidemic.
They conclude:According to the Chinese CDC’s website, accessed on April 27, 2020, SARS-CoV-2 was detected in environmental samples at the Huanan seafood market, and the Chinese CDC suggested that the virus originated from animals sold there (51). However, phylogenetic tracking suggests that SARS-CoV-2 had been imported into the market by humans.
.. and then:It is therefore unlikely for the January market isolates, which all share 99.9-100% genome and S identity with a December human SARS-CoV-2, to have originated from an intermediate animal host, particularly if the most recent common ancestor jumped into humans as early as October, 2019 (54,55). The SARS-CoV-2 genomes in the market samples were most likely from humans infected with SARS-CoV-2 who were vendors or visitors at the market. If intermediate animal hosts were present at the market, no evidence remains in the genetic samples available.
It would be curious if no precursors or branches of SARS-CoV-2 evolution are discovered in humans or animals.