Kristian Andersen, Evolutionary biologist at the Scripps Research Institute, has analyzed sequences of the 2019-nCoV to try to clarify its origin. He said the scenario was “quite likely” for infected individuals to bring the virus into the seafood market somewhere from the outside.
Andersen published his analysis ‘Clock and TMRCA for 2019-nCoV based on 27 genomes‘ on 25 January, suggesting a “common ancestor” a common source as early as October 1, 2019.