On Tuesday, a WhatsApp message was being forwarded that claimed November 17 was the ‘first anniversary’ of Covid-19 as the first case was recorded in Wuhan on this date. Checking the facts, World Health Organization (WHO) had officially announced the emergence of a new pathogen on December 31.
According to a report published by a popular Chinese daily, the first known case of Covid-19 can be traced back to November 17, 2019. A 55-year-old man from Hubei province was suspected to be an infected person. However, the Chinese authorities originally reported the first case on December 31 and initial reports mention that the pandemic was a result of a live animal market – the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, but the cause is unknown to date.
By the end of December 2019, the Chinese government had alerted the WHO saying that multiple cases of pneumonia with an unknown cause had been detected in Wuhan.
In its note, WHO wrote that its China country office was informed of cases of pneumonia of unknown etiology (cause) detected in Wuhan City in Hubei province. Till January 3, 2020, as many as 44 such patients had been reported to WHO by the Chinese authorities. Out of these, 11 were severely ill while the remaining were stable.
Ever since US President Donald Trump blamed China for not containing COVID-19 when it first showed up in Wuhan in December last year, the debate over the origin of the virus has intensified.
According to media reports, WHO said the concerned market in Wuhan was closed on January 1, 2020 for environmental sanitation and disinfection and the causal agent had not yet been identified or confirmed. China till date continues to maintain it has been transparent about the virus and the progression of the disease to the rest of the world. At some point of time it, claimed the covid-19 virus did not originate in China and was in Europe much before December. This claim is under dispute.
The Chinese virologists had said the strain of the new cluster of cases may have come from Europe. An initial epidemiological survey showed the coronavirus strain detected at the Xinfadi wholesale market in Beijing came from Europe, a report in Global Times said. It said the strain had existed longer than the coronavirus strain circulating in Europe. They said it was possible that the covid-19 virus did not mutate during transport as it was sealed in frozen food, stored in cold and damp conditions.
President Trump and leaders of several countries have accused China of not being transparent in reporting the deadly disease, leading to huge human casualties and economic crisis across the world.
Moreover, a study by Harvard researchers had said that satellite images showed an increase in traffic outside five hospitals last year in the Chinese city from late August to December raising doubts that the covid-19 virus may have surfaced in Wuhan by that time. The traffic spike had also coincided with a rise in online searches for information on symptoms like “cough” and “diarrhoea”. China said the study was “ridiculous” and based on “superficial” information.
