The Chinese Communist Party-owned newspaper Global Times has asserted, without evidence, that the coronavirus might not have started in Wuhan or even China.
In an article posted over the weekend, the state-run organisation alleged the virus could have originated from frozen meat sent to the country and sold at a wet market.
It said: "Global Times reporters found from media reports that stores in the Huanan Seafood Market used to sell imported cold-chain seafood, such as king crab and arctic shellfish, as well as meat products from Brazil and Germany.
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"The city also imported Australian steak, Chilean cherries and Ecuadorian seafood before 2019, according to the information from the website of the city's commerce bureau."
They also took aim at products sent over from Canada and Spain.
The Global Times article admitted there wasn't any evidence at the moment to back up its accusations, but stated the idea 'cannot be ruled out'.
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The publication claimed there was a 174 percent increase in the importing of frozen foods into the Hubei province in 2019.
"The idea never crossed our minds before, but now it seems plausible that the virus may have been imported to Wuhan via imported cold-chain products," Wuhan University disease researcher Yang Zhanqiu told the newspaper.
The newspaper also cited an 'anonymous expert' who said the idea is 'theoretically possible' however did not provide any evidence to back it up. Despite this, the expert said they 'cannot conclude so far if the coronavirus existed in other countries before the early cases showed in Wuhan'.
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China has been ramping up its efforts to deflect suggestions that it was the country where the virus first originated.
The New York Times recently spoke to Chinese epidemiologist Wu Zunyou, who said: "More and more evidence suggests that the frozen seafood or meat products probably spread the virus from countries with the epidemic into our country."
There has been speculation that the virus is able to survive on frozen food or the packaging it comes in, however the World Health Organisation has rejected this theory.
Earlier this year, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison called for an independent inquiry into the origins into the coronavirus.
Featured Image Credit: PA