The virus is phylogenetically closest to a bat SARS-like CoV (SL-ZC45, GenBank MG772933)

2-16-20

Wuhan P4  Institute director (She happens to have major political connections in China, but she has been replaced by a female PLA maj-gen. at end of Jan. 2020.)
https://gnews.org/115693/
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"独家 | 新冠病毒基因测序溯源：警报是何时拉响的" [Exclusive | Tracking the source of New Coronavirus gene sequencing:  when the alarm sounded] (in Chinese). Caixin. 26 February 2020. Archived from the original on 27 February 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2020.

https://web.archive.org/web/20200227094018/http://china.caixin.com/2020-02-26/101520972.html

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  Between 20-29 Dec., 7 pneumonia-like patient cases were sent to the laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and other medical labs for the diagnosis of the causative pathogen.  Patient ICU-01 was not proven to be linked to the Wuhan Seafood Market, but the other six were either sellers or deliverymen at the market.^[18][19]  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_2019–20_coronavirus_pandemic_from_November_2019_to_January_2020

footnote 18:  Five patients hospitalized from December 18 to December 29, 2019 presented with fever, cough, and dyspnea accompanied by complications of acute respiratory distress syndrome. Chest radiography revealed diffuse opacities and consolidation.  One of these patients died. Sequence results revealed the presence of a previously unknown β-CoV strain in all five patients, with 99.8% to 99.9% nucleotide identities among the isolates.  These isolates showed 79.0% nucleotide identity with the sequence of SARS-CoV (GenBank NC_004718) and 51.8% identity with the sequence of MERS-CoV (GenBank NC_019843). The virus is phylogenetically closest to a bat SARS-like CoV (SL-ZC45, GenBank MG772933) with 87.6% to 87.7% nucleotide identity, but is in a separate clade.  Moreover, these viruses have a single intact open reading frame gene 8, as a further indicator of bat-origin CoVs.  However, the amino acid sequence of the tentative receptor-binding domain resembles that of SARS-CoV, indicating that these viruses might use the same receptor.

-Ren, Li-Li¹; Wang, Ye-Ming^2,3; et alia

¹National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China Key Laboratory of Systems Biology of Pathogens and Christophe Mérieux Laboratory, Institute of Pathogen Biology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100730, China

²Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Center of Respiratory Medicine, National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Diseases, China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Beijing 100029, China

³Institute of Respiratory Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100029, China      https://journals.lww.com/cmj/Abstract/publishahead/Identification_of_a_novel_coronavirus_causing.99423.aspx
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4-16-20   

https://www.pourquoidocteur.fr/Articles/Question-d-actu/32184-EXCLUSIF-Pour-Pr-Montagnier-SARS-CoV-2-serait-virus-manipule-Chinois-l-ADN-de-VIH-podcast