Editing COVID-19 lab leak theory (section)

== Uncertain origins ==

The exact origins of COVID-19 currently remain unknown. Scientists have agreed that SARS-CoV-2 probably originated in bats, like its closest relatives, [[RaTG13]] and [[RmYN02]]; but its exact evolutionary history, the identity and provenance of its most recent ancestors, and the place, time and mechanism of transmission of the first human infection, remain unknown.<ref name="auto11"/>

Scientists have said that just like with SARS in 2002 and MERS in 2012, the SARS-CoV-2 virus most likely jumped from its primary or "[[natural reservoir]]" host into the human population through a secondary or "[[Host_(biology)#Types_of_hosts|intermediate]]" host. Scientists have also suggested that SARS-CoV-2 could have jumped directly from its reservoir host to a small human population, in which it evolved fitness to reproduce, infect and transmit to the wider human population.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-who-china-factbox-idUKKBN29O08P|title=Factbox: The origins of COVID-19|first=Reuters|last=Staff|date=19 January 2021|via=www.reuters.com}}</ref> So far no intermediate host of a precursor virus has been found in humans prior to the outbreak in Wuhan. 

While the virus was widely reported in early 2020 to have first jumped from animals to humans at the [[Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market]], possibly via smuggled pangolins, [[George F. Gao|George Gao]], the director of [[Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention]], told local state media in a visit to Wuhan in mid 2020 that no viruses were detected in animal samples taken from the Wuhan market, and were instead found only in environmental samples and sewage.<!--- deprecated source <ref>https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-05-26/Official-Wuhan-seafood-market-may-be-the-victim-of-the-coronavirus--QNVxtMlFbW/index.html</ref> ---><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/01/wuhan-seafood-market-may-not-be-source-novel-virus-spreading-globally|title=Wuhan seafood market may not be source of novel virus spreading globally|date=26 January 2020|website=Science &#124; AAAS}}</ref>