Its one of many viruses carried by bats. In parts of China they transport and sell live animals on markets, including bats. The conditions are not good and the virus spread amongst the animal and over to humans in the Wuhan area.
Theland, reflect on what you write before you write it. You brand the Chinese as having filthy habits, and then you say the meaningless "case proven" as though you have won some argument.
How would you feel if I implied that Wirralites are all religious cranks?
Bats have been proven to have the genetic code, similar to the covid 19 virus. It lives alongside bats without any issues for them. The theory is this virus jumped from bats to pangolins or civits. All these animals are kept in close proximity to humans at markets where they’re bought and sold.
The first case of human becoming ill was around Nov2019.
Theland, for someone who is so desperate for evidence on many things (the origins of life, for example), you seem very keen to abandon any research, information when it suits you.
From what I have read (ignoring all the conspiracies) the virus has passed from either bats OR pangolins over to humans. It seemed to originate in a wet food market in Wuhan.
It is now thought the virus originated somewhere other than Wuhan. And the Wuhan market was predominantly selling seafood. It did not sell bats. The market is forbidden from selling Pangolins, though it is possible than there was illegal trading in them.
The first case is now thought to have occurred On December 8th. The people at the Market became ill 3 weeks later than that.
The market became a hot spot of contagion because a lot of people were there. Someone who had contracted the disease elsewhere went to the market and inadvertently infected many people.
Viruses are constantly mutating. Covid-19 is mutating. Very occasionally, a mutation gives a virus an advantage that means it can more successfully infect hosts. Covid-19 gained an advantage.
We get a lot of flu type viruses from other animals. Cattle and birds harbour them. In agricultural areas, people are more likely to be in close proximity to animals. China has a large agricultural economy. So it is no surprise that Covid-19 originated there. It is not because the Chinese are dirty or that they eat things we find unusual, it is because they are farmers, and near to animals.
Eating bats, and storing them and other animals alive and in cages on top of each other, allowing them to swamp each other with bodily fluids, blood and urine, constitute filthy habits.
What would you call it?
Speaking personally, I find eating dead animals not something I relish. The idea that cows, sheep, pigs, birds are OK, but dogs, bats, cats, pangolins, worms etc are beyond the pale puzzles me. It's a cultural thing, overlaid with a strange sentimentality about some creatures and an indifference to the fate of others.
Whatever the cause, it doesn't quite do to blame China for it without looking at our own behaviour. As was pointed out on the recent BBC special on Coronavirus, intensive animal farming in general is a great way to create ideal conditions for animal viruses to spread, mutate, and perhaps pass over to humans.
and as for viruses and bacteria being species specific
well they arent
see zoonoses on wiki
and if they were - there wouldnt be experimentation on lab rats innit?
altho I agree that a lot are specialised for their own host