To date, more than 1.2 million cases of the novel coronavirus have been reported in Italy, with over 45,000 deaths as a result. As the outbreak intensifies, the number of COVID-19 patients in the country’s hospitals is on pace to surpass the number of hospitalized patients during the country’s initial outbreak.
In addition, recent analyses by Italian researchers indicate that COVID-19 was present in Italy as early as September 2019, suggesting that the coronavirus may have spread outside of China earlier than previously thought.
According to Reuters, Italy’s first COVID-19 case was detected on February 21 in a small town in the northern region of Lombardy.
Another test conducted at the University of Siena found that four people had tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies in the first week of October, which means the patients most likely became infected in September.
“This is the main finding: people with no symptoms not only were positive after the serological tests but also had antibodies able to kill the virus,” Giovanni Apolone, a co-author of the study, told Reuters.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has stated that it was unaware of COVID-19 before the first outbreak was reported in China’s Wuhan late last year. However, the WHO has said that “the possibility that the virus may have silently circulated elsewhere cannot be ruled out,” Reuters reported.
Italian researchers in March also told Reuters that there was a higher-than-usual number of cases of pneumonia and what appeared to be the flu in Lombardy in the last quarter of 2019, another potential indication that the novel coronavirus spread in the country earlier than previously thought.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
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