An investigation by the World Health Organization in China into the origin of the coronavirus found that there were cases of coronavirus in China two months earlier than originally identified.
The four-week investigation showed that there were more than 90 people in Central China who were hospitalized due to coronavirus symptoms two months before December 8, 2019, the day China says the first patient with the coronavirus was found, the Wall Street Journal report.
WHO wants China to test blood samples from a wider population from the fall of 2019 to confirm their theory, but Chinese authorities have said they are not allowed to test it yet, WHO investigators told WSJ.
Officials in China did perform antibody testing on some of the 90 patients who had coronavirus symptoms last fall, but no antibodies were found in them. However, WHO researchers think that they just waited too long to test it and that the antibodies subsided, says WSJ.
It is unclear how long antibodies in the body survive for the coronavirus, as there is debate about whether it lasts a few weeks or a few months.
Blood samples and medical records were checked, but there was no evidence that the virus appeared before December 2019, Liang Wannian, head of the coronavirus panel of China’s National Health Commission, said on Tuesday
More studies and blood samples will be needed to determine if the coronavirus was before December 2019.