The Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory is located about 20 miles away from the Huanan Seafood Market and some have wondered if the outbreak's epicenter is coincidental, but the scientific community currently believes that the virus mutated through and jumped to people through animal-human contact at the market.
《新型冠狀病毒纖突蛋白的同源重組可能促進了從蛇到人的跨物種傳播》,由北京大學、廣西中醫藥大學、寧波大學、武漢生物工程學院的研究人員聯合完成,22日在線發表在英文學術期刊《醫學病毒學雜誌》(Journal of Medical Virology)。這也是發現新型冠狀病毒並測序後第15天,中國學者發表的第二篇關於該病毒的研究論文。