COVID-19 origins: Closest viruses to SARS-CoV-2 found in Laos

As the pandemic was thought to originate in Wuhan, many efforts have focused on China, with the assumption that, as the virus was first detected there, it probably started there.

Now, two papers under review by the journal Nature and published as preprints are casting some doubt on these assumptions and indicate that in order to discover the origins of the virus, researchers may have to look farther afield.​

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/ar...ars-cov-2-found-in-laos#Infecting-human-cells

Of course, the prevailing hypothesis is still that it originated (mutated from animals to humans) in a wet market in Wuhan. However more and more evidence keeps showing up that might point to a different origin. New studies seem to point to the fact that bats carrying SARS-CoV-2-related viruses are extremely rare in China. But much more common in Laos.

On top of that, there have been studies that appear to have detected Covid 19 in Northern Italy as far back as Summer of 2021. Much earlier than the first case in Wuhan, in December 2019, is supposed to have occurred. This might suggest that the virus might have come via some tourist from Laos to Italy, where it started mutating to a more deadly strain, and from there to Wuhan.
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3883274

Again: the majority of the evidence still supports the hypothesis that it jumped from animals to humans in a wet market in Wuhan. But this has not been completely established. So many hypothesis are on the table. Even the one about it originating in a Wuhan lab, despite the fact that it's the one for which there is least amount evidence. It's a good idea to wait and not jump to any conclusion right now.