Coronavirus origin traced to bats in genetic study in US

As China and US trade charges of a lab leak, researchers contend that pandemic got its start in wildlife trade

- CARL ZIMMER

IN THE EARLY 2000s, a coronavirus infecting bats jumped into raccoon dogs and other wild mammals in southwestern China. Some of those animals were sold in markets, where the coronavirus jumped again, into humans. The result was the SARS pandemic, which spread to 33 countries and claimed 774 lives. A few months into it, scientists discovered the virus in mammals known as palm civets sold in a market at the center of the outbreak.

In a study published on Wednesday, a team of researchers compared the evolutionary story of SARS with that of Covid 17 years later. The researchers analyzed the genomes of the two coronaviruses that caused the pandemics, along with 248 related coronaviruses in bats.