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A new report claims that the first people infected with the virus took sick more than a month before China ever admitted the virus existed, according to The Western Journal.
Based on Chinese government documents to which it had access, the South China Morning Post reported that a 55-year-old in the Hubei province, which contains the city of Wuhan, contracted the disease on Nov. 17.
However, the Chinese government reported that the first case was on Dec. 31, according to The New York Times.
The first identified case of the virus is from November 17th, so there's a good chance it's been around a fair bit longer than that, possibly as early as the start of October, it's almost certain that some of us will have had it already.https://t.co/QpEgO7selZ
— Ellis Greenwood (@Ellis_Greenwood) March 13, 2020
From The Western Journal:
The November case was followed by other reported cases, the South China Morning Post reported, claiming that according to the data it saw, “one to five new cases were reported each day.”
There were 27 people infected as of Dec. 15, the report said, with reported cases reaching double digits on Dec. 17.
By Dec. 20, there were 60 cases reported, according to the report.
As of Dec. 27, the date Dr. Zhang Jixian made a report that the disease was a new coronavirus, more than 180 people had been infected.
There were 266 cases on the day China announced the first death, a number that soared to 381 the next day.
Although China at the time said the disease had originated in Wuhan, it has pulled back from that claim…
2/2 CDC was caught on the spot. When did patient zero begin in US? How many people are infected? What are the names of the hospitals? It might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe us an explanation! pic.twitter.com/vYNZRFPWo3
— Lijian Zhao 赵立坚 (@zlj517) March 12, 2020
Jonathan Mayer, a professor emeritus at the University of Washington’s department of epidemiology, said it is “entirely conceivable” the November time frame is accurate according to The Guardian.
He said officials might not have detected the cases or might not have known what they were dealing with.
