The well-known study by Worobey et al (2022) claims that the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in the Chinese city of Wuhan is the only possible place of origin of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A careful analysis of the evidence has now revealed that the statistical part of the Worobey study is blatantly wrong. This is shown in a new study published in the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A: Statistics in Society on 16 January 2024. The authors are Professor Dietrich Stoyan from TU Bergakademie Freiberg and Professor Sung Nok Chiu from Hong Kong Baptist University.
Where did the coronavirus first emerge to infect the entire globe as a pandemic? A study by 17 authors led by Canadian scientist Michael Worobey came up with a clear answer in 2022: It was the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in the Chinese city of Wuhan, which is the only possible place of origin of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study was published in the journal Science. And much like the coronavirus, this thesis traveled around the world, not only through the scientific community but also through the mass media.
Dietrich Stoyan from TU Bergakademie Freiberg and his Chinese colleague Sung Nok Chiu from Hong Kong Baptist University analyzed the work of Worobey and colleagues with regard to the statistical method used. Their verdict is clear: The statistics do not prove that the market in Wuhan was the early epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. The main statistical test used is nonsensical, according to...
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