PARIS (REUTERS): A French hospital, after retesting old samples from pneumonia patients, has discovered that it treated a man who had coronavirus as early as December 27.
This means the coronavirus may have arrived in Europe almost a month earlier. France – where virus claimed lives of more than 25,000 people – reported the first case of coronavirus on January 24, 2020, in the country.
Dr. Yves Cohen informed that scientists had retested samples from 24 patients treated in December and January. “Of the 24, we had one who was positive for Covid-19 on December 27,” he added.
The samples had all initially been collected to detect flu using PCR tests, the same genetic screening process that can also be used to detect the presence of the novel coronavirus in patients.
The doctor further said that it was too early to know if the patient whose December 27 test was Covid-19 positive is France’s “patient zero”.
However, Cohen said that the patient had survived and that a first investigation to trace the first contamination has been carried out.
He also informed that the man’s wife worked alongside a Sushi stand, close to colleagues of Chinese origin. “It is not clear whether those colleagues had traveled to China, and the local health authority should investigate,” he added.
The doctor also said, “He may be the ‘patient zero’, but perhaps there are others in other regions. All the negative PCRs for pneumonia must be tested again.”
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