Covid-19 is said to have originated by mutation in a 'wet market' in China. These may contain a wide range of live or dead animals, including dogs and cats. Does anyone know what animals, wild, feral or farmed, have been implicated as possible sources?
These articles can be of help to know the animal origin of COVID-19 pandemic:
Article Bat origin of human coronaviruses
Article The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2
Article Probable Pangolin Origin of SARS-CoV-2 Associated with the C...
There is apparently enormous evidence that Covid-19 originated from the Wuhan lab...
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/video/2020/may/04/mike-pompeo-enomous-evidence-covid-19-came-from-wuhan-lab-video
Smoke and mirrors; who knows the truth these days
Please see the link below.
https://www.sciencealert.com/more-evidence-suggests-pangolins-may-have-passed-coronavirus-from-bats-to-humans
Please also have a look at the following RG links.
Article A pneumonia outbreak associated with a new coronavirus of pr...
Article Bat origin of a new human coronavirus: there and back again
Article Origin and Evolution of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus
Article Protein Structure and Sequence Reanalysis of 2019-nCoV Genom...
Many thanks to Muhammad, Isam, Rajkumar and Arvind for your helpful replies pointing me to relevant literature. As an ecologist, I am interested in connections between humans and wildlife.
Possible origins of the virus
Based on their genomic sequencing analysis, Andersen and his collaborators concluded that the most likely origins for SARS-CoV-2 followed one of two possible scenarios.
In one scenario, the virus evolved to its current pathogenic state through natural selection in a non-human host and then jumped to humans. This is how previous coronavirus outbreaks have emerged, with humans contracting the virus after direct exposure to civets (SARS) and camels (MERS). The researchers proposed bats as the most likely reservoir for SARS-CoV-2 as it is very similar to a bat coronavirus. There are no documented cases of direct bat-human transmission, however, suggesting that an intermediate host was likely involved between bats and humans.
In this scenario, both of the distinctive features of SARS-CoV-2's spike protein -- the RBD portion that binds to cells and the cleavage site that opens the virus up -- would have evolved to their current state prior to entering humans. In this case, the current epidemic would probably have emerged rapidly as soon as humans were infected, as the virus would have already evolved the features that make it pathogenic and able to spread between people.
Thank you Goutam, Alaa, Atyaf and Rasha for your helpful answers and links.
Covid-19 grew up in their labs and accused the animals of spreading the disease
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2020.594458/abstract
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fvets.2020.00578/full
Many thanks Gaber El-Saber Batiha and Abdel-Moneim Eid Abdel-Moneim for pointing me to this valuable article.
Also see the following useful link for more insight.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00584-8
Dear Julian D. Reynolds . See kindly the following useful RG link: Article Assessing the risks of SARS-CoV-2 in wildlife
Kindly see also the following useful RG link: Article SARS-CoV-2 in animals: Potential for unknown reservoir hosts...
Also check please the following useful RG link: Article SARS-CoV-2 infection in farmed minks, associated zoonotic co...
The following link is also very useful: https://digital.csic.es/bitstream/10261/225811/1/Assessing%20the%20Risks%20of%20SARS-CoV-2%20in%20Wildlife.pdf
Visit kindly the following very useful RG link: Article Spatial epidemiology and genetic diversity of SARS-CoV-2 and...
There are an infinity of "sources".
And confusion reigns supreme.