While the research bolsters the case that COVID-19 emerged from animals, it does not resolve the polarized and political debate over whether the virus instead emerged from a research lab in China.

Genetic tracing at the Huanan Seafood Market supports hypothesis that the COVID pandemic spread from animals there.

Michael Worobey, PhD, one of the authors of the study in Cell, said they found which subpopulations of animals might have spread the coronavirus, which may help researchers identi