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In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, there are growing calls for wet markets, which sell exotic wild animals as food, to be closed down permanently.

The original source of the COVID-19 has not been confirmed, however, researchers believe the Wuhan Wet Market in Wuhan, China, is the place that sold the animal that carried the deadly virus.

Wet markets in China sell the meat of bats, dogs, cats, cows, rabbits, turtles, deer, and many more.

These markets have many animals stacked on the top of each other, which makes them a prime location for viruses to stay and mutate.

Peter Li, an associate professor at the University of Houston-Downtown, states that at wet markets, “The cages are stacked one over another. Animals at the bottom are often soaked with all kinds of liquid. Animal excrement, pus, blood.”

Such conditions allow viruses to spread from one animal to another as well as to humans who come into contact with them.

As a result of all these things, people all over the world are now calling on world leaders to do their part in shutting down these wet markets so we can prevent something like the coronavirus (COVID-19) from happening again.

Here are some viruses that are linked with meat consumption:

• Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
• Avian flu
• Swine flu
• SARS
• HIV
• Ebola
• COVID-19

Luckily, there is a leader that is supporting our calls.

Scott Morrison, the Prime Minister of Australia, said, “It is a very real and significant problem wherever they exist. This virus started in China and went around the world and that’s how it started, we all know that, and these wet markets can be a real problem with what can occur.”

He added, “From a world health point of view, I think this is something the World Health Organisation (WHO) should do something about.”

PM Morrison continued, “We’ve got to be quite strident on these things in these forums and making sure that they’re dealing with what are quite serious health risks.”

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