Research Shows Raccoon Dogs to Be Linked to COVID-19 Pandemic

Raccoon dogs are not dogs or raccoons. They generally belong to the canid family and are related to foxes. How do the discoveries impact the origins of Covid-19?

A new genetic study has been done in which the data collected from the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan, China, has linked coronavirus to raccoon dogs, with evidence that the pandemic might have derived from the infected animals sold at the market.

A team of experts stated this on March 16, including an evolutionary biologist at the University of Arizona, Michael Worobey; a virus expert at the Scripps Research Institute in California, Kristian Andersen; and Edward Holmes, a biologist at the University of Sydney.

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated, “The data does not provide a clear picture of how the pandemic began, but it is important to move closer to that answer”.

The genetic data was collected from swabs taken from the market back in January 2020, after the Chinese government had shut down the market due to suspicions of linking to the outbreak of the virus. An earlier analysis of similar data was issued last year, showing both Covid and human DNA. Moreover, researchers in China at the time refused the samples of any animal DNA.

The new findings have proved them false and revealed the positive samples rich in DNA from raccoon dogs. However, they don’t verify that these or any other animals were responsible for the pandemic.