UArizona researcher releases new report on origin of COVID-19

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PHOENIX - Since COVID-19 began, the question of where it all started has persisted, and the debate over where the virus began has been sparked once more, thanks to a scientist in Arizona.

A researcher at the University of Arizona says the first known case was found at a market in Wuhan, in China's Hubei province. The report was released on Thursday, Nov. 18, and reveals that the World Health Organization (WHO) and others have gotten the timeline of the pandemic wrong. The report also shows where the deadly virus began in the first place.

"You can't dismiss this pattern of all these cases linked to a wet market," said Dr. Michael Worobey, the head of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UArizona. "That market is the most likely site of origin, and it probably happened from an animal sold live in the market infected with the virus, and it crossed into humans."

Dr. Worobey combed through data, news reports, recovered health documents and interviews with patients and doctors for months to find his conclusion. He says in the city of 11 million people, half of the cases are linked to that small area, indicating it came from the wet market. Dr. Worobey also adds that he also researched the theory that the virus was produced in a lab.

"If the evidence pointed strongly to a lab origin, then I would be shouting from rooftops about that, but it doesn't," said Dr. Worobey. "So much evidence is stacked against that, and at this point, we need to focus on this wet market origin, and what we are going to do about it."

On top of Dr. Worobey's origin research, he also uncovered that the first known patient was a vendor in the animal market, and not the initially reported patient zero.