On Sept. 19, 2024, an international team of researchers announced a study that genetically traced the epicenter of the COVID-10 pandemic to wildlife and viruses in the now closed Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, China.

Four near-complete SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences were recovered from environmental samples collected on Jan. 1, 2020 in the west wing of the Huanan market, where most wildlife vendors were located. The study demonstrated that market-linked severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) genetic diversity was consistent with market emergence and found increased SARS-CoV-2 positivity near and within a wildlife stall.

The Huanan market was the location with the most wildlife vendors in Wuhan, a city of over 12 million people with four sustained live-animal markets. Several vendors were documented to be illegally selling live animals such as raccoon dogs, civets, bamboo rats (Rhizomys pruinosus and/or Rhizomys sinensis), Malayan porcupines, Amur hedgehogs, and Asian badgers (Meles leucurus) in late fall of 2019. The study was published in Cell.