In new research, scientists in China have claimed that the novel coronavirus originated in India before it was first detected in China’s Wuhan.
Ever since the virus broke out in 2019, there has been immense pressure on China to map the origination of the virus. Many world leaders including Donald Trump had held China accountable for the economic and human losses due to the pandemic. Now, in a desperate attempt to shift the blame, the Chinese scientists have thrown the name of India in the mix.
According to the team of scientists in the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the virus originated in India during the summer of 2019 which likely came from animals and finally to humans through contaminated water. However, the study doesn’t explain the virus going unnoticed for over 6 months until it was detected in Wuhan in December. Earlier, the Chinese government had looked to pin the blame of the pandemic on Italy, America, and even Europe without backing it up with evidence.
China Points Finger At 8 Countries
The research used the phylogenetic analysis to trace the origins which apparently rules out the origin being the wet market of Wuhan. It instead points fingers at eight other countries where the virus could have come to China. Those are Bangladesh, the United States of America, Greece, Australia, India, Italy, the Czech Republic, Russia, and Serbia. The theory says,
“The water shortage made wild animals such as monkeys engage in the deadly fight over water among each other and would have surely increased the chance of human-wild animal interactions. We speculated that the animal-human transmission of SARS-CoV-2 might be associated with this unusual heatwave. India’s poor healthcare system and young population allowed the virus to spread undetected for several months.”
The research and the claim come at the backdrop of the geo-political tension between India and China.
