Wuhan decided to reopen its wet market, the reported origin of the pandemic. US officials have warned the country about keeping it shut, but Beijing lifted the lockdown in the province and allowed the reselling of freshly slaughtered animals, fish, and a variety of exotic wildlife.
The Chinese Communist Party allowed the reopening of the Wuhan wet market but ensured the public that the establishments are required to abide by strict safety requirements during the resumption of business operations. The measures to be taken before shoppers could enter the Baishazhou market include checking of temperatures and the showing of green cards that indicate they are free of the virus symptoms.
According to an AFP report last month, the epicenter of the outbreak, Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, would remain permanently closed.
The reopening of the wet market in Wuhan was frowned upon by the US government. Last week, an infectious disease expert on the White House coronavirus task force Dr. Anthony Fauci suggested that China should shut down all its wet markets since the reopening still holds danger.
Fauci said that many diseases emanate from the unusual human-animal interface that these wet markets should remain closed. He added that if the reopening of such might open doors to further outbreaks.
US Senator Lindsey Graham also claimed that Beijing's refusal to maintain the closure of these wet markets may alter the trade alliance between China and the US. The South Carolina Republican said that if China refuses to shut down the wet markets, the US might impose trade restrictions against the country. She also claimed that shutting down the wet markets would be China's effort in helping the world refrain from suffering another pandemic.
In other news, The Guardian reported that the animal pangolin, one of the animals sold in Chinese wet markets, may cause a virus that could spread to humans other than the coronavirus believed to have originated through the eating of bats. However, there remains uncertainty about aspects of the COVID-19 origin that scientists continue to unravel including the type of animal species that could pass the virus to humans. The efforts of finding the origins were rendered as scientists' way of stopping another pandemic from happening.
The head of the department of microbiology at Melbourne's Monash University Stephen Turner said that it was most likely that the virus originated from bats. However, he added that uncertainty remains about its origins. The hypothesis that the pandemic started from the Wuhan lives animal market may not be fully conclusive.
Turner added that part of the problem is the lack of surveillance on these wet markets to ascertain the origins of the virus. He suggested that understanding the breadth of species that the virus could infect is detrimental to scientists and could help them narrow down its origins.
