The spread of the novel coronavirus in different parts of the world which killed over a thousand people and infected over 40,000 individuals did not stop an Indonesian province from eating its delicacy from bats.
Bats, snakes, dogs, monkeys and other ‘delicacies’ are still being sold every day at the Tomohon Extreme Market in North Sulawesi, Indonesia according South China Morning Post.
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Experts believed that the new coronavirus was transmitted to humans after getting it from bats or snakes. Further studies also see the link of pangolins and its role in animal to human transmission of COVID-19.
Both bats and snakes remain on the menu at Tomohon Extreme Market despite experts’ warnings of potentially disastrous consequences.
“Tomohon Extreme Market and other markets selling wildlife in Indonesia are potentially breeding grounds for the coronavirus,” a pathologist told SCMP.
North Sulawesi first reported its first coronavirus case on January 25 from a 2-year-old Chinese kid.
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Experts said that no coronavirus transmission has been recorded from bats to humans in the Indonesian province.
“Some local residents eat these bats every day, some eat them once a week,” said Royke Rarumangkay, a North Sulawesi-based journalist for CNN Indonesia.
Locals told the journalist that they had complained to him and were shocked to learn that some people thought bats were the source of the coronavirus, because they had been eating bats for decades.
