Coronavirus 'likely came from live snakes'
Chinese authorities suspend outbound travel from Wuhan as death toll spikes
23rd January 2020
By Lydia Hales
Snakes may have given humans the novel coronavirus behind a pneumonia outbreak that began in a live animal market in the Chinese city of Wuhan, researchers say.
As the death toll from the virus, 2019-nCoV, jumped from six to 17, Chinese researchers announced they had identified a probable animal reservoir.
A team of researchers used genetic sequencing to search various potential host species for the closest match, including the many-banded krait and Chinese cobra — two types of