After blaming Italy, US and Europe, the Chinese scientists now claim that the deadly novel coronavirus originated in India in the summer of 2019.
As World Health Organisation (WHO) team geares up to investigate the origin of the Covid-19 virus, Chinese scientists come up with a new story trying to divert the international attention towards India.
After blaming Italy, US and Europe for the outbreak, in a new, the Chinese scientists have now claimed that the deadly novel coronavirus originated in India in the summer of 2019.
A team of researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences claim that the COVID-19 virus most likely originated in India in summer 2019. Their theory suggests that the virus, jumped from animals to humans via contaminated water, before travelling unnoticed to Wuhan, where it was first detected.
The research, entitled 'The Early Cryptic Transmission and Evolution of Sars-Cov-2 in Human Hosts', challenges the general theory among scientists that the virus originated in the wet markets of Wuhan. China has been claiming that just because corona cases were first reported in Wuhan, does not mean the contagion originated from there.
In their paper, the Chinese team use phylogenetic analysis to trace the origins of Covid-19. Viruses, like all cells, mutate as they reproduce, meaning tiny changes occur in their DNA each time they replicate themselves, according to a DailyMail report.
The research, led by Dr Shen Libing, claimed the traditional approach to tracing the origin of coronavirus strains did not work as it used a bat virus discovered in Yunnan, southwest China, several years ago. Instead, the Chinese researchers used a new method which involves counting the number of mutations in each viral strain.
The scientists argue their method of the investigation rules out the virus found in Wuhan as the 'original' virus, and instead points to eight other countries: Bangladesh, US, Greece, Australia, India, Italy, Czech Republic, Russia or Serbia.
Researchers go on to argue that because India and Bangladesh both recorded samples with low mutations and are geographic neighbours, it is likely that the first transmission occurred there.
However, David Robertson, an expert from Glasgow University, has rejected this claim and called the theory proposed by the Chinese researchers 'very flawed'. He concluded that 'it adds nothing to our understanding of coronavirus'.
This is not the first time that Chinese authorities have pointed the finger of blame elsewhere - suggesting, largely without evidence, that both Italy and the US could be the site of the original infection.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Chinese scientists claim Covid-19 originated from India or Bangladesh")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}