The Washington PostThe Washington Post

The data on covid's origins from the Wuhan market must be made public

By Amy Maxmen

25 Mar 2023 · 4 min read

Editor's Note

Anything that increases our understanding of how Covid-19 started can help prevent the next pandemic, Amy Maxmen writes in the Post. So China must share the relevant data with the rest of the world.

A new analysis by a team of international experts adds to evidence suggesting that the pandemic began when animals at the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan, China, spread the coronavirus to people. But there's a problem: Other researchers can't scrutinize the genetic sequences it's based on.

This data needs to be made public. And if China won't do it, then someone else must - either those who run the platform where the data was fleetingly available or the team that did the new analysis - even though, among scientists, releasing other people's data is tantamount to theft.

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