Covid's natural origin theory was today seemingly dealt a huge blow — by China's very own scientists. In a fresh twist to the never-ending saga, Beijing-affiliated researchers ruled there was no proof to definitively say the virus jumped from animals to humans at a now-infamous market in Wuhan. Swathes of patients struck down at the start of the pandemic visited or had links to its stalls, which sold bats, raccoon dogs, pangolins and other exotic species either proven to harbour similar coronaviruses or thought to.