The novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) has killed at least 213 people in China and infected nearly 10,000 worldwide since December last year. Although the epidemic was originally traced to a busy seafood market in Wuhan City, China , scientists are now challenging the theory.

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According to Dr Paweł Grzesiowski from the Medical Centre of Postgraduate Education in Warsaw, Poland, the first person infected with the new coronavirus strain appears to have caught it elsewhere.

He said: “What is interesting, is that Patient X, that is, the first – as it is suspected – to be infected with this microorganism at the beginning of December 2019, did not have any contact with the fish market where the infection could have occurred.”

Coronaviruses are a zoonotic family of pathogens, meaning they can be transmitted between animals and humans.

A leading coronavirus theory suggests the pathogen was spread by Chinese beluga fish or snakes – two animals likely sold at the Wuhan market.

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