Swathes of patients struck down at the start of the pandemic visited or had links to its stalls, which sold bats, raccoon dogs, pangolins and other exotic species either proven to harbour similar coronaviruses or thought to.

As such, top virologists agreed with the Chinese government’s argument that Covid likely emerged naturally inside the busy market.

However, in one of the most eagerly-awaited papers on the topic, experts from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said: ‘The evidence provided in this study is not sufficient to support such a hypothesis…

‘The possibility of potential introduction of the virus to the market through infected humans, or cold chain products, cannot be ruled out yet.’

[Anthony Fauci hardest hit. — Ed]