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Scientists from South China University of Technology in Guangzhou wrote and published a paper speculating that a centre for disease control near a Wuhan seafood market may be ground zero for the virus.
Botao Xiao and Lei Xiao wrote that the Wuhan Centre for Disease Control and Prevention was the possible source because it “hosted animals in laboratories for research purposes”, including bats, and was “within 280 metres of the Huanan Seafood Market where a number of early infections were reported”.
In the paper, titled The possible origins of 2019-nCoV coronavirus, researchers explained that “41 people in Wuhan were found to have the acute respiratory syndrome and 27 of them had contact with Huanan Seafood Market”.
They wrote: “According to municipal reports and the testimonies of 31 residents and 28 visitors, the bat was never a food source in the city, and no bat was traded in the market.”
The research facility was also adjacent to the Union Hospital where the first group of doctors were infected.