Covid-19 'came from single stall at Wuhan market' as Luke O'Neill says 'raccoon dogs' may be the source

Professor Luke O’Neill has said new studies on the origins of Covid-19 discount theories that the virus may have come from a laboratory.

Three major studies on early coronavirus infections say it may have come from a single stall at a Wuhan market. Scientists have singled out the Huanan Seafood Market as the exact place where the pandemic may have began.

Preliminary studies say it appears to have jumped from animals to humans at that market at least twice in late 2019.

Speaking on The Pat Kenny Show on Newstalk on Thursday, Prof O’Neill said: "The Chinese scientists and an international consortium have now dug into all the data.

“The bottom line, as we know, it did come from the market - the Huanan Seafood Market is the source of this, no question now from that.

Members of staff of the Wuhan Hygiene Emergency Response Team drive their vehicle as they leave the closed Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in the city of Wuhan, in Hubei, Province on January 11, 2020, where the Wuhan health commission said that the man who died from a respiratory illness had purchased goods (NOEL CELIS/AFP via Getty Images)

“It was two separate events they think, strikingly, in November/December probably of 2019.

"They've tracked it down to a single stall, amazingly, in the market - 156 cases came from that stall. Once the thing began in early January, they went in and took loads of swabs. They took thousands and thousands of samples from all over the market.

"They sampled hundreds of animals as well, and from that they're saying it was one specific stall could have been the origin, because so many cases could be tracked to that stall.

"That decreases the chance it's a lab leak, because that would more likely to be one sample. All this data, as ever, pointing to a market source - firstly - and secondly from animals in that market.”

The immunologist went on to say that ‘raccoon dogs’ may be the source of Covid.

He explained: "They harbour loads and loads of coronaviruses, and that was known before.

"This stall probably had raccoon dogs, and that might have been the source.

“The bat might have infected the raccoon dog, basically, and then these raccoon dogs may have been the source".

Monday saw the vast majority of Ireland’s Covid restrictions lifted, including the requirement to wear face masks in shops, schools and on public transport.

Yesterday, health officials confirmed 7,694 new cases of Covid, made up of 3,342 positive PCR tests and 4,352 registered antigen tests.

There are currently 653 patients in hospital with Covid, of which 46 are in ICU.