The now infamous Wuhan wet market, a wholesale wildlife supply market in central China, is confirmed to have played a role in the corona virus spread last year. It is claimed to have either been the source or an “amplifying factor”, as confirmed by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Shortly after the mass outbreak, China imposed a temporary ban on consumption of wildlife as well as the trade of the same, and simultaneously shut down the market in an effort to curb the spread of the deadly virus.
While talking about it, Dr Peter Ben Embarek, a WHO expert on food safety and zoonotic viruses said said “The market played a role in the event, that’s clear. But what role we don’t know, whether it was the source or amplifying setting or just a coincidence that some cases were detected in and around that market”.
Ben Embarek did not address the accusations of Germany or the US secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who had allegedly claimed that there was substantial evidence for infected produce having been sold in the market. He went on to say that it was not clear whether live animals or infected vendors or shoppers brought the virus into the market, at the press meet in Geneva.