Paul McCartney decried exotic Chinese "wet" markets as the original source of the coronavirus pandemic, calling for the government to halt the activity during a discussion on Howard Stern's SiriusXM program Tuesday.

Scientists believe a "wet" market in Wuhan, China — where live and dead creatures including bats are sold as food and for alleged medicinal purposes — is the likely source of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

"I really hope that this will mean that the Chinese government … will say, ‘OK, guys, we have really got to get super hygienic around here.’ " McCartney, 77, a long-time supporter of animal rights, said on the program about the markets. "Let’s face it, come on, it is a little bit medieval, eating bats."

"They might as well be, you know, letting off atomic bombs because this is affecting the whole world," he added. "Whoever is responsible for this is at war with the world and itself; it just doesn't make sense any sense at all."

He called banning the markets "a very good idea for them, not just us. They don't need all of the people dying. And what's it for? These quite medieval practices. They just need to clean up their act. … This may lead to it. If this doesn’t, I don’t know what will."

Fact check: Coronavirus originated in China, not elsewhere, researchers and studies say

Bringing up the argument that these markets have gone on "forever, and this is the way we do things," McCartney said: "They did slavery forever, too. You have to change things at some point."

McCartney said he was in Sussex, England, in quarantine with his daughter Mary and her family. His wife, Nancy, is quarantining in the U.S. "So that's pretty rough," he said.

"It's so crazy," said McCartney of the current situation. He said he was heartened by the world's response during the pandemic, comparing it to the British reaction after the devastation of World War II.

"This kind of, ‘We’ll get on with it, we’ll do whatever’s necessary, we’ll all pull together and we’ll try and stay happy,’ " he said. “That spirit is kind of what they needed and it’s what we need now. That’s what we’re seeing now a lot of people pulling together. In a way, it’s a great thing because if we don’t, we’re finished.”