COVID-19 may have been circulating in Italy months before China confirmed cases: European news outlets

Screenshot of Italian media THE LOCAL's report

Several European news outlets recently reported that coronavirus may have already ravaged Italy months earlier than China’s first confirmed case.

Italy’s THE LOCAL reported on July 20 that a study by the National Cancer Institute (INT) in Milan suggests that “coronavirus may have been spreading in Italy as early as September 2019.” It says that researchers at INT retested blood samples from late 2019 and found the presence of antibodies normally seen after COVID infection.

In the article, Giovanni Apolone, one of the researchers, said, “the results of this retesting suggest that what we previously reported in asymptomatic patients is a plausible signal of early circulation of the virus in Italy.”

The article also mentioned, “the first known coronavirus case was in Wuhan in December 2019, but studies have since detected circulation of the virus in Europe as early as November 2019, including in Milan.”

There is another study by researchers from University of Milan which “detected traces of the infection in skin cells from a 25-year-old woman who had a biopsy for an unusual skin condition on November 10th, 2019.” The woman was tested “positive for COVID-19 antibodies in her blood” months later.

Moreover, studies of waster water in Italy seems to demonstrate that “the virus was cirulating in December in parts of northern Italy.”

Besides Italian media THE LOCAL, French media Marseille News, UK media The Telegraph and Financial Times also reported the researches in Italy.

Screenshot of French media Marseille News' report

French media Marseille News published an article titled “Covid could have ravaged Italy months before China confirmed cases: study”, saying that “a new study of blood samples collected in Italy as early as October 2019 has given rise to suggestions that the virus was circulating in Europe before the first case was confirmed by Beijing.”

Screenshot of UK media The Telegraph's report

In the article titled “'Plausible' evidence that Covid may have been circulating in Italy in October 2019” published by The Telegraph, it said, “Re-testing of blood samples has shown that coronavirus may have been circulating in Italy as early as October 2019, two months before China alerted the world to the new disease, researchers have claimed. ”