A hospital in France has tested its old samples of pneumonia patients to find that a man with COVID-19 symptoms had been present in December 27, 2019, weeks before their first case had been detected.
Yves Cohen, the head of the Avicenne and Jean Verdier Hospitals, told BFMTV that they had retested old samples of flu patients, of which one of them had been a corona positive carrier. Initially, the samples had all been collected to detect the presence of flu using PCR tests, the same genetic screening process that is also used to detect the presence of the COVID-19.
Cohen added that Each sample was retested several times to ensure there were no errors.
With 24,895 casualties since March 1, the country reported its first COVID positive on January 24. However the news coming out of France point that the virus had entered the country much before.
Cohen said that it was early to say if this patient was “patient zero”. The man’s children had been infected after his sickness, but not his wife. Cohen said that he was puzzled as the man had not travelled anywhere. However, it was found that his wife worked alongside a Chinese colleague, ran a Sushi store. Local authorities are no investigating the matter.