First Covid case emerged in China in October 2019: Study

A new study has revealed that the Coronavirus that causes Covid, started spreading in China as early as October 2019, two months before it was first reported in Wuhan province. The study conducted by researchers from the UK-based University of Kent states that the likely date of the first emergence was November 17, 2019, and had probably already spread to other parts of the world by January 2020. The first cases in India were reported in later February and early March as the country went into strict lockdown from March 26. Researchers used methods from conservation science to estimate the early observation of the virus.

The first official case of Covid-19 reported in China was in December 2019, linked to Wuhan's Huanan seafood market. However, the research states that early cases had no known connection with Huanan, implying that SARS-CoV-2 was already circulating before it reached the market. The research bolsters the speculation that other variants of coronavirus had already been in circulation before the first cases were even reported. Another study by Australian scientists, published in the Scientific Reports journal, used genomic data to show SARS-CoV-2 binds to human receptors far more easily than other species, suggesting it was already adapted to humans when it first emerged. It said it was possible there was another unidentified animal with an even stronger affinity that served as an intermediary species, but the hypothesis that it leaked from the lab could not be ruled out.

A joint study by the World Health Organisation and China earlier had also acknowledged the chances of sporadic human infections before the Wuhan outbreak. However, the first came to know about a mysterious outbreak in China on the New Year eve of 2020. Months later, the virus had engulfed the world, pushing nations into lockdown and a panic mode to contain the unknown outbreak.