(Jul 07, 2020)
In early February 2019, Dr. Shi’s team suddenly tossed a brand new genome online and published a paper, citing that hCoV-2019 must come from (horseshoe) Bats because it is so similar to this other sample obtained from Bats in July 2013.
*If an existing genome was already in the system and the new data was uploaded we would expect to see reference notes and that the previous listing had been removed or updated.
*The scientists were forcing an argument that this newly published genome (RaTG13) came from a Bat and is the closest relative to hCoV-2019, therefore our pandemic virus more than likely came from a bat.
At the time of this publication, there is quite literally zero record or publication referencing this sudden new virus that they designated as Bat SL-CoV RaTG13 (Ra being Rhinolophus affinis, 13 being sampling year). How could this new virus have been just ABSENT from the scientific community for SEVEN YEARS?!
In fact, there are (comparatively) barely any Rhinolophus Affinis Samples in our databases. Meaning there is a small pool or Bat viruses from this specific species. The team simply renamed the sample and maybe forgot that 4991 was already in GenBank?! Because 4991 is actually RaTG13, yet this super important publication which was read by all of the top scientists in the world makes zero mention of this important fact.