Experts pour scorn on Chinese data suggesting RACCOON DOGS were responsible for COVID | Daily Mail Online

A research paper which suggests Covid-19 originated in raccoon dogs held in cages at a market in Wuhan has been criticized after it emerged the data originated from Chinese scientists who've now withdrawn it.

Samples taken from the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan were used for the new study which comes just weeks after US authorities doubled down on their belief the virus leaked from a nearby lab in Wuhan.

But the very same samples - which have never been shared with the international community - have previously been studied by scientists in China who concluded the virus didn't come from animals at the market.

On Friday morning, the World Health Organization also said the research 'doesn't give us the answers of how the pandemic began' and was critical of how the data surfaced. 

The data was unexpectedly uploaded to an international research database called GISAID last week and downloaded by international researchers who stumbled across it while looking for other information. Within hours of processing this new data, the team discovered traces of the Covid-19 virus in samples that also contained animal genetic material that matched the raccoon dog. 

via www.dailymail.co.uk