did the virus originate on a fur farm at Yichang, Hubei?

By Hu Meidong in Fujian | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2020-02-12 11:11

[Video: In a video clip provided by Gao Jiali and Shi Jiahong, a Fujian support team heads to Yichang, Hubei Province.]

On Tuesday, Fujian province sent its first support team to aid Yichang, a prefecture-level city in Hubei province, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak.

A total of 158 people left East China's Fujian for Central China's Hubei, including 149 physicians, nurses, laboratory test specialists and logistics support staff mainly from respiratory, critical care and infectious disease departments.    https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:T_b4wgK1suYJ:https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202002/12/WS5e436cf6a310128217276f6d.html+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

…………..

-Yichang, city of Hubei, the province hit hardest by the novel coronavirus outbreak, China February 12, 2020.  -China Daily via Reuters

………............................................................................

  Before the culls, China was the second biggest producer of mink fur behind Denmark.  China has taken little action against its mink farms, which researchers say number around 8,000 and hold about 5 million animals.  Jason Baker, Senior Vice President at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).  “Filthy fur farms are packed with sick, stressed, and injured animals and are breeding grounds for disease.”  Studies also suggest mink are particularly prone to coronavirus infection and could transmit the virus back into humans.  https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-china-mink/chinas-fur-farms-see-opportunity-as-countries-cull-mink-over-coronavirus-fears-idUSKBN28D0PV

………......................................................

8-17-2016  Mink is by far the most popular farmed fur, and Chinese minks dominate the market.  In 2014 the country produced 35 million pelts, according to the International Fur Federation.  But Chinese fur farming is virtually unregulated when it comes to animal welfare.  Chinese farms are often small, family-owned operations, according to a 2010 U.S. Department of Agriculture report.  A 2005 report by Care for the Wild, a U.K.-based animal welfare nonprofit, found animals that were kept in small, dirty cages exposed to the rain and sun, experienced rough handling, and suffered high infant mortality rates. The report’s authors, investigators from Swiss Animal Protection and EAST International, observed abnormal behaviors indicative of poor welfare, including extreme fearfulness, unresponsiveness, and self-mutilation.  And farmers reported infanticide and difficulty breeding, which are also signs of poor welfare.   https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:hSEXuyRnbhsJ:https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2016/08/wildlife-china-fur-farming-welfare/+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

……………………..

12-1-2020  The documents, which cover an incomplete period between October 2019 and April this year, reveal what appears to be an inflexible health care system constrained by top-down bureaucracy and rigid procedures that were ill-equipped to deal with the emerging crisis. At several critical moments in the early phase of the pandemic, the documents show evidence of clear missteps and point to a pattern of institutional failings.

The documents have been verified by six independent experts who examined the veracity of their content on behalf of CNN.  One expert with close ties to China reported seeing some of the reports during confidential research earlier this year.  A European security official with knowledge of Chinese internal documents and procedures also confirmed to CNN that the files were genuine.  https://edition.cnn.com/2020/11/30/asia/wuhan-china-covid-intl/index.html