China: Beijing Coronavirus is Originally From Europe
China has released the genetic data of the coronavirus that recently broke out in the capital Beijing.
On the basis of preliminary findings, officials argue that this is a European strain of the new coronavirus. The origin of the new coronavirus has been under discussion for months between China and the United States, among others.
China says it has provided the genetic data to the World Health Organization (WHO). The country was under pressure to hasten to publish the data now that the coronavirus is spreading in the capital.
The Chinese National Data Center for Microbiology reports that data from Beijing is based on three samples, two from humans and one from the surrounding environment.
The samples were taken on June 11, the day when the lung virus reappeared in Beijing after months.
Since then, a total of 183 new infections have been reported in the Chinese capital. A food market would have been the source of the infection.
An official of the Chinese equivalent of the RIVM states that the virus actually comes from Europe, although it differs from the virus that now prevails in Europe. According to the official, the presumed European infection in Beijing is also older.
According to the Chinese chief epidemiologist, the virus is not necessarily spread from a European country to Beijing. The same strain is also present in the United States and Russia, he said.
