First Covid-19 case happened in November, China government records show - report
Earliest case detected on 17 November, weeks before authorities acknowledged new virus, says Chinese media
The first case of someone suffering from Covid-19 can be traced back to 17 November, according to media reports on unpublished Chinese government data.
The report, in the South China Morning Post, said Chinese authorities had identified at least 266 people who contracted the virus last year and who came under medical surveillance, and the earliest case was 17 November – weeks before authorities announced the emergence of the new virus.
The data obtained by the Post, which the Guardian has not been able to verify, said a 55-year-old from Hubei province could have been the first person to contract Covid-19. For about one month after that date there were one to five new cases reported each day, the report said, and by 20 December there were 60 confirmed cases.
I wonder if coronavirus was here in December too. S and friends of ours, plus folk on the forum were very poorly with temperatures and coughs. It wouldn’t be until vulnerable people began dying unexpectedly and post mortems were done that anyone would pick it up that it was something new.