It seems increasingly plausible that Covid-19 originated in fur farms, especially mink, as our investigation shows. At the end of December 2020, Reporterre revealed that the strains responsible for the two epidemic waves that engulfed Europe emerged nearby to a number of large mink farms. Reporterre continued its investigation in China. On 8 January, Science published an article stressing the need to study the link between Covid and mink farms.

For the moment no-one knows for sure if the scientific delegation put together by the World Health Organisation (WHO) will be allowed in to China to investigate the origin of the pandemic. [1] The ten international experts still have not received the authorisations they need. Negotiations are underway, but no details have been released and it is impossible to predict the outcome.

It is staggering that a year after the start of the last century’s worst pandemic, no progress has been made in understanding how Sars-CoV-2 jumped from bats — its natural host — to humans. This uncertainty is not due to the limits of science, but to the attitude of the Chinese authorities, who for a year have adamantly opposed any independent inquiry — even inside the country — to find the answer. The question is what does China have to hide ?

It is a glaring absence that no inquiry has been made to confirm or deny a seldom mentioned but obvious hypothesis : that the pandemic originated in a fur farm. China is indeed the world’s leading market and leading producer of fur worldwide. The industry in China is worth more than $20 billion a year, and involves more than 50 million animals. Traditional livestock farming for beef, pork or poultry do not seem to be infected by the coronavirus. By contrast, animals bred for their fur, particularly the three main species — mink, fox, and the raccoon dog — are highly sensitive to it.

Specialists know that human epidemics originating from livestock farms are not exceptional. Farms are known breeding grounds for microbes : for example the last flu pandemic, in 2009, originated in American pig farms — hence its name swine flu.

« Coronavirologist » Christian Drosten, who co-discovered Sars-CoV-1 in 2003 and advises the German government, said in an interview with the