Scientists believe they've uncovered the true origin of the Covid pandemic — and have rejected the popular theory that the virus was leaked from a laboratory.

A major international study published today insists that the virus began life in a ‘wet market’ in Wuhan, China, rather than in a scientific experiment. 

Researchers tested genetic samples of animals that were sold in Wuhan market stalls in 2019 and found traces of the Covid virus in some species.

They argue that this is the first time scientists have pinpointed the animals that may have been responsible for transmission to humans.  

‘This adds another layer to the accumulating evidence that all points to the same scenario: that infected animals were introduced into the market in mid-to late November 2019, which sparked the pandemic,’ said author of the study Kristian Andersen from Scripps Research.

The raccoon dog, a fox-like animal common in East Asia, was suggested to be the biggest carrier of the virus.

Other animals such as masked palm civets, hoary bamboo rats and Malayan porcupines were also found to be carrying Covid-19 before it spread to humans.

This is not a definitive list as many of the key animal species were cleared out from the market before the Chinese health team arrived, said Florence Débarre of the French National Centre for Scientific Research, who led the study.

The scientists note that many of the early cases in Wuhan, a city of 12 million people, were workers from the market.

Debate has raged about the source of the pandemic that claimed 7 million lives globally and over 200,000 in the UK.

The alternative theory is that the pandemic was caused by a leak from one of the laboratories at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

This theory gained traction after the Director of the FBI Christopher Wray said the bureau believes Covid-19 'most likely' originated in a 'Chinese government-controlled lab'.

President Biden failed to shut down the lab leak conspiracy after he ordered an investigation into the theory.

Following the publication of this latest study scientists now insist that the pandemic did originate at the market as originally reported.

The study is based on a new analysis of data released by the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The data came from more than 800 samples collected in and around the Huanan Seafood Wholesale market beginning on January 1, 2020, and from genetic samples reported from early COVID-19 patients.

On January 1, 2020, after the animals were removed and just hours after the market was closed, investigators from the Chinese CDC went to the market to collect samples.

They swabbed the floors, walls, and other surfaces of the stalls and came back days later to focus on surfaces in stalls selling wildlife, such as a cage and carts used to move animals.

They also collected samples from the drains and sewers.

Experts warn that lessons from Covid-19 have not been learnt, with the possibility of a future pandemic caused by the trade of live animals.

‘This is the most risky thing we can do —take wild animals that are teeming with viruses and then play with fire by bringing them into contact with humans living in the heart of big cities, whose population densities make it easy for these viruses to take hold,’ said Michael Worobey of the University of Arizona, one of the study authors.

Other experts agree. Commenting seperately, Professor James Wood, infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Cambridge, who did not take part in the study, said: ‘While efforts have been made globally to tighten up on laboratory biosecurity to ensure that viruses cannot inadvertently escape, little or nothing has been done to limit either the live trade in wildlife. 

The Covid-19 pandemic had a devastating effect on the UK population, with at least 235,000 Brits are thought to have been killed by the virus since the pandemic began in 2019. 

A report from the Covid-19 inquiry, published in July this year, stated that the UK Government's failure to prepare for a 'forseeable' pandemic led to mass death, 'untold misery' and 'economic turmoil'. 

The inquiry chair Baroness Heather Hallett, in her first scathing report into the outbreak, claimed a 'damaging absence of focus' on measures that would be needed to deal with a fast-spreading disease was to blame for 'the tragedy of each individual death'. 

The 240-page document also called for 'radical reform' in order to safeguard against future pandemics and warned: 'It is not a question of 'if' one will strike but 'when'.'

In her moving 2,000 word foreword, Baroness Hallett concluded that 'never again can a disease be allowed to lead to so many deaths and so much suffering'. 

A major flaw, according to the inquiry, was the lack of 'a system that could be scaled up to test, trace and isolate' people. 

The inquiry said it had 'no hesitation' in concluding that the 'processes, planning and policy of the civil contingencies structures within the UK government and devolved administrations and civil services failed their citizens'. 

The report added: 'Despite reams of documentation, planning guidance was insufficiently robust and flexible, and policy documentation was outdated, unnecessarily bureaucratic and infected by jargon.' 

She acknowledged preparing for a pandemic costs money, but warned: 'The massive financial, economic and human cost of the Covid 19 pandemic is proof that, in the area of preparedness and resilience, money spent on systems for our protection is vital and will be vastly outweighed by the cost of not doing so.

'Had the UK been better prepared for and more resilient to the pandemic, some of that financial and human cost may have been avoided.'

She said high pre-existing levels of heart disease, diabetes, respiratory illness and obesity, and general levels of ill-health and health inequalities mean that the UK was more vulnerable.

But, addressing the state's preparedness, she added: 'There must be radical reform. Never again can a disease be allowed to lead to so many deaths and so much suffering.'

She said planning and guidance was 'insufficiently robust and flexible', that policy documentation was 'outdated, unnecessarily bureaucratic and infected by jargon', and that advice was 'often undermined by groupthink'.

She also acknowledged the Government's preparedness and resilience was, 'quite evidently under constant strain' at the time the pandemic struck, given several Whitehall departments' preoccupation with leaving the European Union.

The 240-page report said: 'The evidence suggests that there were, and remain, real limits on the state's capacity to cope with an increasing trend of multiple, complex civil emergencies happening at the same time.'

Baroness Hallett added: 'I have no hesitation in concluding that the processes, planning and policy of the civil contingency structures across the UK failed the citizens of all four nations. 

'There were serious errors on the part of the state, and serious flaws in our civil emergency systems. This cannot be allowed to happen again.

'Unless the lessons are learned and fundamental change is implemented, the human and financial cost and sacrifice of the Covid-19 pandemic will have been in vain.

'The harrowing accounts of loss and grief given by the bereaved witnesses and others who suffered during the pandemic serve to remind us why there must be radical reform.'

She said the Government's sole pandemic strategy, from 2011, 'was outdated and lacked adaptability… and was beset by major flaws, which were there for everyone to see'.

That strategy focused on only one type of pandemic, and, she said 'failed adequately to consider prevention or proportionality of response, and paid insufficient attention to the economic and social consequences of pandemic response'.

Consequently, she said, it was 'virtually abandoned on its first encounter with the pandemic' by then-Health Secretary Matt Hancock.

She also noted that responsibility for the strategy prior to the pandemic extended over the tenures of the two previous Secretaries of State of Health: Andrew Lansley MP, from May 2010 to September 2012, and Jeremy Hunt MP, from September 2012 to July 2018.

The report identified how leaders failed to heed the lessons from Exercise Cygnus, a three-day training scenario involving nearly 1,000 Government officials to test the UK's response to a serious influenza pandemic.

The exercise highlighted 'the lack of capability and capacity to surge resources in a number of key areas, including the NHS, social care and the management of excess deaths'.

However, no reference was made that the UK's pandemic plans, policies and response capabilities were not sufficient to cope with the extreme demands of a severe pandemic during a subsequent meeting to discuss Cygnus, involving then-Prime Minister Theresa May and members of the National Security Council.

Baroness Hallett made a number of recommendations, including that a similar exercise is carried out every three years, publishing the outcome.

She also suggested a 'radical simplification' of civil emergency preparedness and resilience systems.

She said the Government 'could and should' have invested in the test and trace system, which was used to try and identify how the virus was spreading.

Lockdown, one of the most divisive elements of the Covid 19 response, will be examined in further detail in a future report.

But Baroness Hallett acknowledged it 'should be a measure of last resort'.

In a statement, the inquiry chairman said: 'My report recommends fundamental reform of the way in which the UK government and the devolved administrations prepare for whole-system civil emergencies.

'If the reforms I recommend are implemented, the nation will be more resilient and better able to avoid the terrible losses and costs to society that the Covid-19 pandemic brought.

'I expect all my recommendations to be acted on, with a timetable to be agreed with the respective administrations. I, and my team, will be monitoring this closely.'