Covid was spreading “virulently” in Wuhan as early as summer 2019 – far sooner than previously thought, according to an intelligence analysis of spending on PCR testing equipment.
A new report claims to have uncovered “notable, significant and abnormal” purchases of PCR lab equipment in the second half of that year.
…”We believe the increased spending in May suggests this as the earliest start date for possible infection,” the study claims, adding: “We assess with medium confidence that the significant increase in PCR purchasing starts in July 2019.”
Timeline
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Using serum samples routinely collected in 9144 adults from a French general population-based cohort, we identified 353 participants with a positive anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG test, among whom 13 were sampled between November 2019 and January 2020 and were confirmed by neutralizing antibodies testing. Investigations in 11 of these participants revealed experience of symptoms possibly related to a SARS-CoV-2 infection or situations at risk of potential SARS-CoV-2 exposure. This suggests early circulation of SARS-CoV-2 in Europe.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10654-020-00716-2
Scientists in Italy have identified a sample of the novel coronavirus collected from a young boy late last year that they say is genetically identical to the earliest strain isolated in the Chinese city of Wuhan almost a year ago.
The sample was collected on December 5, 2019 in Milan from a boy who was first thought to have contracted measles, according to the researchers from the University of Milan.
It was a “100 per cent match” of a genome segment of the first Sars-CoV-2 viral strain collected from a seafood market worker in Wuhan on December 26, they said.
“These findings, in agreement with other evidence of early Covid-19 spread in Europe, advance the beginning of the outbreak to late autumn 2019,” said the team led by Professor Elisabetta Tanzi.
We identified severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 RNA in an oropharyngeal swab specimen collected from a child with suspected measles in early December 2019, ≈3 months before the first identified coronavirus disease case in Italy. This finding expands our knowledge on timing and mapping of novel coronavirus transmission pathways.
https://web.archive.org/web/20201209020309/https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/27/2/20-4632_article
- Blood samples unveiled this week show people in California, Oregon and Washington infected in December
- Further tests on blood taken in mid-to-late December and into early January found virus in six more states
- Italy, Brazil and France have all since found traces of the virus before China even acknowledged it existed
- Evidence has emerged in Spain and the UK suggesting that Covid-19 was around before testing was possible
- Claims the virus emerged in a market in Wuhan last winter have crumbled in the face of scientific evidence
My experience of testing positive for coronavirus antibodies clearly struck a nerve. Two weeks ago I wrote that I’d had no recent symptoms but dismissed a bout of pneumonia in January because it was weeks before the first confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the UK.
Many of you responded with your own experiences of having Covid-like symptoms – some as far back as November – and urged me to investigate further…
…No individual has yet been identified as “patient zero”, the first person to get infected with the new virus…
…But plenty of people are doubting the official timeline.
In a blog post written last month, Mayer said she emailed Gill’s thoracic specialist to ask the question. “His response winded me,” she wrote. The consultant said: “It seemed to me at the time of Andy’s illness that we had not fully understood why he deteriorated as he did. Once we learned more about Covid-19, I thought there was a real possibility that Andy had been infected by Sars-Cov-2.”
Radiologists at the Albert Schweitzer hospital in Colmar have detected traces of COVID-19 since November 2019.
English article on the same topic:
University of College London scientists sampled and sequenced the genomes of virus samples from more than 7,500 people who caught COVID-19
Their findings suggest the pandemic began sometime between October 6 and December 11, 2019
The virus appears to be mutating about as frequently as expected
A March study suggested that two separate strains of coronavirus spread from China, with the more aggressive one becoming dominant in Europe and the US
Now, the University of College London researchers say that their study suggests just a single strain swiftly spread around the globe
It has mutated, but it’s unclear if those changes have made it more or less deadly