Coronavirus was first detected at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, China
Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images
When the first signs of an unknown virus began appearing in Wuhan, China in December 2019, scientists scrambled to understand what was happening. In the five years since then, it has continued unabated, with over 1 million papers published on SARS-CoV-2 and covid-19. But despite this surge, some big scientific questions about the virus remain.
Is the virus hiding in wild animals?
Early in the pandemic, it became clear that the coronavirus could jump from humans to other animals and back again.
