(AP photo)French scientists say they may have identified a possible case of the new coronavirus dating back to December — about a month before the first cases were officially confirmed in Europe. Hammar was admitted to the hospital with symptoms doctors say were consistent with Covid-19 patients in China and Italy. There doesn’t appear to have been any further transmission of the virus from Hammar, who later recovered. Rowland Kao, an epidemiologist at the University of Edinburgh, said that even if the case was confirmed as Covid-19, it wasn’t confirmation that the virus started spreading in Europe earlier than was believed. Doctors in Italy have also reported finding retrospective cases of the coronavirus in the country long before the disease was officially identified.-AP

Source: The Standard May 05, 2020 10:52 UTC