Leading Virologist Claims First COVID Case Was at Wuhan Animal Market

A leading virologist reported on Thursday that the first known coronavirus patient was likely a vendor in a Wuhan market hawking domestic and wild animals. Michael Worobey’s analysis of the geographic pattern of China’s early COVID cases led him to suggest the virus came from an infected animal at the Huanan Seafood Market. The animal then passed the disease to a female vendor, who became symptomatic on Dec. 11, 2019.

The peer-reviewed article, published by Worobey in the academic journal Science, does not purport to definitively solve the mystery of the virus’...