Chinese “wet markets” have reportedly reopened, selling live animals for human consumption after the country recently declared victory over coronavirus.
Cages full of cats and dogs waiting for slaughter and the unsanitary preparation of animals is again reportedly a common sight in Chinese food markets, often called wet-markets, according to in-country correspondents with the Daily Mail.
China temporarily banned the trade of live animals at wet markets after facts emerged suggesting that the virus was first transmitted to humans via bats and other live animals sold in the often filthy places.
However, now that China says it’s beaten the virus, the markets seem to have resumed business as usual.
“The markets have gone back to operating in exactly the same way as they did before coronavirus,” said a Daily Mail correspondent who observed the markets re-opening Dongguan. “The only difference is that security guards try to stop anyone taking pictures which would never have happened before.”
Another correspondent in Guilin, a city in southwest China, photographed a sign advertising bats, snakes, spiders, lizards and scorpions for sale as remedies for common illnesses.
Images have also begun to circulate on social media of traditional Chinese foods considered odd by Western standards for sale in the newly reopened wet markets. CNBC host Jim Cramer tweeted out a video of live scorpions for sale.
Chinese food market circa now pic.twitter.com/oWE7pHf9yQ
— Jim Cramer (@jimcramer) February 24, 2020
Now China says it’s beaten COVID-19 and there is a dramatic fall in their infection rate, however there is concern the Chinese Communist Party is promoting conspiracy theories that the outbreak did not begin in China at all and many are skeptical about how honest their infection statistics throughout the pandemic have been.
National Review says it has identified dozens of instances in which China lied to the world about the virus in its borders.
China has recorded 82,342 cases of the virus, according to Our World in Data. The first case appeared in Wuhan in November, reports LiveScience.