The team employed molecular dating, using the rate of ongoing mutations to calculate how long the virus has been around. There have been reports from Italy and other European countries of evidence the virus may have infected people there before October. But Thursday's study indicates only about a dozen people were infected between October and December, Worobey said. The study indicates the virus did emerge in China's Hubei province and not elsewhere, the researchers said. It's likely the market was not where the virus first infected people, but just the place where it got amplified.

Source: CNN March 19, 2021 02:03 UTC