After a brief interval, here is some Covid news. A new peer-reviewed article is now available in Nature for preview. The study summarises the RNA sequence results from several samples from Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan. The market was linked to several of the early cases of the illness. Since the market’s closure (1st of January 2020), 923 environmental and 457 animal samples were collected from 1-Jan to 2-Mar 2020. Here is the high-level summary:
| # Samples | # +ve by RT-PCR | |
| Huanan Seafood Market | 718 | 40 |
| Warehouses | 14 | 5 |
| Other markets | 30 | 1 |
| Drainage | 110 | 24 |
| Sewerage wells | 51 | 3 |
| Total | 923 | 73 |
Notably, 35 samples from February showed positive, suggesting a pretty long persistence of the viral material in the environment.
Of the 457 samples collected from animals belonging to 18 species, none of them tested positive for the virus.
While several samples had genetic material belonging to mammals of genera such as homo (e.g. human), ovis (e.g. sheep), bos (e.g. cow), canis (e.g. dog) etc., it is not, however, proof that these animals were infected but may only mean that there was an increased focus (for sample collection) on those shops and locations, where animals were sold. The same goes with the case of racoon dogs as carriers: the study found genetic material from those; it could only mean that two things (virus-carrying entity and racoon dogs) co-existed, and nothing further.
Reference
Surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 at the Huanan Seafood Market: Nature
