![]() ![]() They wash down the stalls regularly and disinfect the countertops to stop germs from spreading.Ĭhung, however, is one of the few people in the market who is not wearing a face mask. Fifteen minutes later the shopper can come back and pick up the chicken meat.Ĭhung says he and his colleagues do their best to keep the area clean. He gives the customer a matching tag, sort of like a coat check. If the customer is happy with the bird, Chung puts a plastic tag with a number on the chicken's foot. Chung pulls them out by their feet, holds them upside down to show off their plump breasts. Customers can select a live bird from Chung's cages. Customers say that buying chickens that are slaughtered on the spot makes them feel that they're getting meat from fresh, healthy birds. When that happens, occasionally a new strain of an animal virus gets a foothold in humans and an outbreak like this current coronavirus erupts.Ī chicken for sale at the Tai Po market in Hong Kong. The stress of captivity in these chaotic markets weakens the animals' immune systems and creates an environment where viruses from different species can mingle, swap bits of their genetic code and spread from one species to another, according to biologist Kevin Olival, vice president for research at the EcoHealth Alliance. First, these markets often have many different kinds of animals – some wild, some domesticated but not necessarily native to that part of Asia. There are similar markets all over the world - places where fish, poultry and other animals are slaughtered and butchered right on the premises.īut researchers of zoonotic diseases - diseases that jump from animals to humans – pinpoint the wet markets in mainland China as particularly problematic for several reasons. Meanwhile, this kind of market is not just an Asian phenomenon. "When I go to mainland China and I'm trying to eat something, I'm concerned about what's in the food." It's so different from what's happening in mainland China," she says. "It's much cleaner in the Hong Kong markets. She's heard about the links between the wet market in Wuhan, China, and the coronavirus but doesn't think something like that would happen in Hong Kong. Wong is wearing a surgical face mask because of the coronavirus outbreak. Like just about everyone else in the market. Wong - says people blame wet markets for spreading disease. Things are wet.Īt the Tai Po market, a woman who runs a shellfish stall - she only wants to give her name as Mrs. There's lots of water, blood, fish scales and chicken guts. Melting ice adds to the slush on the floor. Live turtles and crustaceans climb over each other in boxes. The countertops of the stalls are red with blood as fish are gutted and filleted right in front of the customers' eyes. ![]() Live fish in open tubs splash water all over the floor. I visited the Tai Po wet market in Hong Kong, and it's quite obvious why the term "wet" is used. ![]() The complex of stalls selling live fish, meat and wild animals is known in the region as a "wet market." Researchers believe the new virus probably mutated from a coronavirus common in animals and jumped over to humans in the Wuhan bazaar. Patients who came down with disease at the end of December all had connections to the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan China. Many customers come to this market to buy live seafood.Ī "wet market" in Wuhan, China, is catching the blame as the probable source of the current coronavirus outbreak that's sweeping the globe. Shellfish for sale in the Tai Po market in Hong Kong on January 29. ![]()
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