China issues total ban on exotic, wildlife consumption

China's wildlife-farming industry, worth USD 74 billion, has been permanently shut down by the nation's legislature.

All practices leading to the trading of such animals have been barred in an effort to prevent the animal to human contraction of zoonotic diseases.

It is thought that the novel coronavirus has been transmitted to humans by pigs, civets or pangolins at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan province of China.

The decision came at a critical moment for the prevention and control of the coronavirus epidemic that has claimed the lives of at least 2,700 people.