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With the COVID-19 pandemic reaching its worst heights, people are interested in the origin of SARS-CoV-2 This study started with two important questions: first, were there any similar atypical pneumonia outbreaks, even on a smaller level, reported between SARS in 2004 and COVID-19 in 2019/20 in China Second, examining the beta-coronavirus most closely related to date with SARS-CoV-2 at the genome sequence level, strain RaTG13 (CoV4991), which was sampled from a horseshoe bat in Yunnan province, we asked where exactly did it come from It was found that RaTG13/CoV4991 was collected from Tongguan mineshaft in Mojiang, Yunnan, China, in 2013 Surprisingly, the same mineshaft was also associated with a severe pneumonia-like illness in miners in 2012 killing three of the six miners A Master\'s thesis (in the Chinese language) was found on the cnki net website which described in detail the severe illness in miners The thesis concluded that a SARS-like CoV originating from Chinese horseshoe bats (Rhinolophus) was the predicted causative agent The cases were remotely monitored by a prominent pulmonologist in China Retrospective analysis of the pneumonia cases shows striking similarities with COVID-19 Bilateral pneumonia, vascular complications like pulmonary thromboembolism, and secondary infections are the main similarities The treatment regimes were similar to the current treatments for COVID-19 We propose that the Mojiang mineshaft miners\' illness could provide important clues to the origin of SARS-CoV-2 These cases should be studied by various academicians, researchers, and medical professionals as many important questions are raised in this context © Copyright © 2020 Rahalkar and Bahulikar
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