Raccoon Dogs at Wuhan Market Linked to COVID-19 Origins

New genetic analysis of SARS-CoV-2 viruses found at the Huanan animal market in Wuhan offers clues to the animal origin of the COVID-19 pandemic, including "molecular evidence" of animals like raccoon dogs at the market intermingled in swabs from the same spots that turned up the shedding from the virus itself in the market. However, the samples only indicate that both raccoon dogs and the virus were present at the market; it is not direct proof that the species was the carrier. The WHO has called for Chinese health authorities to release genetic sequences of SARS-CoV-2 that recently disappeared from an international database.