Missing Link sought in coronavirus origin

WHO proposes the virus came to humans from bats through an unidentified species. But which?

WHO releases report on COVID-19 origin after independent investigation in Wuhan

The WHO and Chinese investigators announced several key findings including that the virus could have been present in other regions or countries before the first cases were reported in Wuhan.

A month-long investigation into the origins of COVID-19 has dismissed suggestions that it could have been introduced to humans through a laboratory leak, finding it was most likely to have been transmitted through an intermediate animal host and may have been spread through frozen food….

Did the coronavirus really come from frozen food, as the WHO suggests?

Is it credible that coronavirus can stay infectious and jump to humans via frozen food, as findings from a Chinese and World Health Organization investigation suggest?

Did the virus that caused a worldwide pandemic make the jump to humans via frozen food? That was one hypothesis put forward on 9 February by a joint World Health Organization and Chinese investigation into the origins of SARS-CoV-2.

Frozen animals were found on sale at Huanan market in Wuhan, China, the place where the virus was initially detected, the team behind the work said. In a press conference, Peter Ben Embarek, the head of the investigation, said: “We know the virus can survive in conditions that are found in these cold, frozen environments, but we don’t really understand if the virus can transmit to humans.”

The idea that the coronavirus was carried inside or on the surface of frozen food, which has been advanced by Chinese state media, could place the source of the virus beyond China, from an animal imported from another country.