New data links Covid-19’s origins to raccoon dogs at Wuhan market

While the findings on raccoon dogs make it more likely Covid started in a market, they do not exclude other theories. Photograph: Arterra/Universal Images group/Getty Images

Newly released genetic data gathered from a live food market in Wuhan has linked Covid-19 with raccoon dogs, adding weight to the theory that infected animals sold at the site started the coronavirus pandemic, researchers involved in the work say.

Swabs collected from stalls at the Huanan seafood market in the two months after it was shut down on 1 January 2020 were previously found to contain both Covid and human DNA. When the findings were published last year, Chinese researchers stated that the samples contained no animal DNA.