Chinese Market Linked To First COVID-19 Outbreak ‘Re-Opens Selling Wild Animals’

In a very frightening development, the Chinese wet market which is thought to be the starting point for the novel coronavirus has already re-opened after having been temporarily shut down earlier this year.

The Huanan seafood market in Wuhan– the epicentre of the virus- was forced closed by authorities in January after it emerged that the coronavirus also known as COVID-19 could have been transmitted from animals to humans.

Consequently, the trade of live animals was banned at wet markets.

However, despite the risks posed and the potential for another catastrophic outbreak, the market has already re-opened and is now bustling with activity, this publication has established from the Dailystar.

In the market, vendors sell a raft of animals including chickens, badgers, bamboo rats, hedgehogs, and snakes – often slaughtered in front of customers.

Customers began arriving again on March 30 after China stopped recording new cases of the coronavirus.

‘Everyone here believes the outbreak is over and there’s nothing to worry about any more. It’s just a foreign problem now as far as they are concerned, a Mail on Sunday correspondent said.

Meanwhile, there have been calls globally for the promulgation of domestic food laws in countries like China and others that are not up to the standards of health, safety and welfare. Many have expressed that China’s domestic demand and customs for exotic and live food are a direct threat to the health, safety and welfare of the world.

The outbreak was first identified in December 2019.  The virus, which is now a pandemic, has infected at least 926,625 people across the world and killed 46,438, Of those who have contracted the virus since it began, 193,4314 people have recovered.