Vladimir Dedkov, an expert from the World Health Organization (WHO) from Russia, visited the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan, China, where the COVID-19 outbreak supposedly began, and assessed the conditions for the spread of the virus. He told RIA Novosti about this.
According to him, this market is “very far from perfect.” “Everything is very crowded, the market is small, everything is crowded. Naturally, anything could happen there. All conditions for the spread of any infection exist when sanitary standards are not observed, ”a Russian expert from WHO described the place.
At the same time, the market is not in the state in which it was a year ago. It is currently closed, the pavilions are being demolished – nevertheless, even now we can talk about the presence of all the factors for the start of the epidemic.
At the same time, the infectious disease specialist emphasized that there are still no facts about the origin of the virus on the seafood market. “There is no evidence that the virus originated there, maybe the virus appeared in another place, but hypothetically, there are all conditions for the spread of the virus,” he concluded.
Earlier, Dedkov said that it is very difficult to imagine a leak from the laboratory of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, since the laboratory itself is arranged beyond praise. According to him, there are no preconditions or facts that indicate that the virus spread from the laboratory.
An outbreak of pneumonia COVID-19 caused by a novel coronavirus was first recorded in December 2019 in Wuhan. Initially, it was believed that the source of the new infection was the seafood market. At the same time, the WHO stated that it did not have verified information that this market was indeed the source of the coronavirus. Reports also began to emerge that the infection began to spread from the laboratory of the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
China is accused of hiding the outbreak, trying to silence doctors who tried to raise the alarm, and belatedly informing the world about what happened. Beijing was also blamed for obstructing an external investigation into the origin of the virus.
