Many of the early cases were linked to the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan city, Hubei province, from where the probable zoonotic source is speculated to originate 2. Case numbers grew rapidly from 27 in December 2019 to 3,090,445 globally as of 30 April 2020 3, leading to the declaration of a public health emergency, and later a pandemic, by the WHO (World Health Organization). The causative agent was soon identified as a novel coronavirus 1, which was later named SARS-CoV-2. The discovery of multiple lineages of pangolin coronavirus and their similarity to SARS-CoV-2 suggests that pangolins should be considered as possible hosts in the emergence of new coronaviruses and should be removed from wet markets to prevent zoonotic transmission.Īn outbreak of serious pneumonia disease was reported in Wuhan, China, on 30 December 2019. Metagenomic sequencing identified pangolin-associated coronaviruses that belong to two sub-lineages of SARS-CoV-2-related coronaviruses, including one that exhibits strong similarity in the receptor-binding domain to SARS-CoV-2.
Here we report the identification of SARS-CoV-2-related coronaviruses in Malayan pangolins ( Manis javanica) seized in anti-smuggling operations in southern China. Although bats are probable reservoir hosts for SARS-CoV-2, the identity of any intermediate host that may have facilitated transfer to humans is unknown. This outbreak has been tentatively associated with a seafood market in Wuhan, China, where the sale of wild animals may be the source of zoonotic infection 2.
The ongoing outbreak of viral pneumonia in China and across the world is associated with a new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2 1.
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