Spanish medical experts claim to have discovered the Novel Coronavirus in drainage samples collected in Barcelona in March 2019.
That is, nine months before the outbreak of COVID-19 in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the virus was present in that city.
If this is fully confirmed then new questions will arise regarding the origin of the virus.
Researchers also discovered new corona wires in drainage samples taken in Barcelona on January 15 this year, while the first official case of COVID-19 in Spain came to light six weeks later in late February.
A research team from the University of Barcelona tested drainage samples using the PCR Coronavirus test and said that the virus enters sewage through the waste of infected people, and it is important to detect and control the epidemic. It can be a helpful tool.
Albert Bosque, a professor of biology at the University of Barcelona, said that if the coronavirus had been detected in Barcelona a month earlier, the response to the epidemic could have been better.
The research team analyzed 2 years of frozen drainage samples and were shocked to find that on March 12, 2019, a small amount of the virus was present in the city.
No case for COVID-19 was recorded at the time, but Professor Albert said it was possible that similar results could be found around the world.
"Since most of the cases in COVID-19 are similar to the flu in terms of symptoms, these cases are considered flu at the moment," he said.
On the other hand, other scientists have expressed doubts about the results of Barcelona University.
Dr. Jonathan Stowe of the Francis Creek Institute told the Telegraph that further analysis would be needed to confirm this claim.
"These results may be correct, but there should be no ambiguity when you make such an important claim, which is why I am skeptical," he said.
Francois Bellox, a professor at the University of California's Institute of Genetics, said it was unlikely that a new coronavirus, or a similar virus, would have been spreading at the time. Let me confirm that too.
He added that his team, in genetic analysis, confidently rejected the notion that the new coronavirus was spreading in the spring of 2019 if the presence of the virus was confirmed before the end of 2019, which But we have doubts, so another epidemic should have happened at that time.
Earlier last week, a study by Italian experts revealed that the coronavirus had reached at least two major cities in December.
In fact, the study suggests that the virus first appeared in Italy when it was first reported in China.
The discovery was made after a study by the Italian National Institutes of Health analyzed sewage water.
Researchers found traces of the virus in sewage water from Milan and Turin in December last year, while samples from the virus were found in sewers in Bologna in January.
Earlier, it was believed that the first case in Italy was reported in mid-February, but researchers said the new findings would help determine the origin of the virus.
He also confirmed international evidence that sewage samples could be used to catch the virus early.
Adriano Deserley, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Milan, said in March that Lombardy and Milan's hospitals had seen a significant increase in pneumonia and flu cases between October and December last year, according to Reuters.
He said he could not give exact figures yet, but during the last quarter of 2019, there were more cases than usual in hospitals in which patients experienced symptoms such as pneumonia and the flu, and some died.
They are now reviewing hospital records and other details of cases, such as the number of deaths at home, to help determine if the virus had spread to Italy in late 2019.
"We want to know if the virus reached Italy at the end of 2019 and if so, why it has not been caught for so long," he said.
The Italian professor says that once his investigation is complete, the local medical authorities may consider examining the bodies of those who died of suspected symptoms.
A study by the University of Cambridge in the UK in April suggested that the Novel Coronavirus outbreak may have started in mid-September last year and did not start in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
The Cambridge University study is working to find the root cause of the COVID-19 epidemic, and the research team hopes to identify the first person to become the first victim of the virus, after which it can spread. Started
While analyzing the virus's spread network, they have so far been able to chart its spread, including genetic mutations, to determine how the virus spread from China to Australia, Europe, and the rest of the world.
The study looked at more than 1,000 complete genomes of the coronavirus, which were sequenced in human patients.
The virus was later divided into types A, B, and C based on genetic mutations and type A to type AY.
Comments