A recent study indicates a strong relationship between the outbreak and animals in the Huanan Wildlife Market in Wuhan
The Chinese authorities imposed closures on
nearly a million people in a suburb of Wuhan - the city in central China where the first case of the Corona virus appeared.
Residents of the Jiangxi region were ordered to stay indoors for three days after four asymptomatic cases of coronavirus were detected.
China is pursuing a "zero coronavirus infection" strategy, including mass testing, strict isolation rules, and local closures.
As a result, the numbers of deaths were much lower than in many other countries.
But this strategy is facing growing opposition as individuals and companies continue to face the pressures of these restrictions.
In Wuhan, a city of 12 million people, regular tests revealed two asymptomatic cases two days ago.
Two new cases were also discovered through contact tracing, shortly after the closure order was issued.
Corona Virus: New evidence that the first focus of Covid was formed in a Chinese market, not in a laboratory
Corona Virus: The number of Covid infections is rising again in Britain, and fears about two new mutations
Wuhan became known around the world in early 2020 as the first place where scientists discovered the novel coronavirus - and the first city to be subject to severe restrictive measures.
At the time, the world was shocked by this strict lockdown, but soon many cities and countries were forced to impose similar measures.
Later, everyone realized that China had succeeded in confronting the Corona virus, with restrictions lifted much earlier than what happened in many other countries.
But that changed again, as China pursued a "zero coronavirus infection" strategy, which led to frequent domestic closures, rather than trying to live with the virus as is the case in most other countries.
And over the past month, Shanghai - China's financial giant of nearly 25 million people - finally ended its two-month strict lockdown, even as residents adjust to the "new normal" of repeated mass testing.
In order to keep parts of the economy open, employees have been asked to live temporarily in their workplace to reduce contact between work and home.
China imposes closure measures on one million people in Wuhan after four cases were infected
Earlier this week, scientists said there was "compelling evidence" that the Huanan Seafood and Wildlife Market in Wuhan was the first epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak.
And two studies - reviewed by researchers - re-examined information about the first outbreak of the virus in the Chinese city.
One of the two studies shows that the first known cases were centered around this market. The other study uses genetic information to track the timing of the outbreak, and points to two different mutations that passed to humans in November or early December of 2019.
Researchers in the two studies say that this evidence shows that the virus was present in live mammals that were sold in the Huanan market in late 2019.
They add that the virus was transmitted to people who were working or shopping there in "two separate events", during which the virus was transmitted from animal to human, causing infection.
One of the researchers involved, virologist David Robertson of the University of Glasgow, told the BBC he hoped the two studies would "correct the wrong record that the virus came from a lab".
China has seen more than 2.2 million cases and 14,720 deaths since the outbreak of the epidemic in 2019, according to Johns Hopkins University in the United States.
Enregistrer un commentaire