A coronavirus outbreak in China could begin as early as September 2019

Researchers who are investigating the origins of Sars-CoV-2 have analyzed a large number of strains of this

virus and calculated that the initial outbreak of COVID-19 occurred between September 13 and December 7, 2019.

Moreover, the outbreak could not have occurred in Wuhan, wherethe epidemic officially began, and in southern China. The virus mutated into its final form before the pandemic began a few months before its registration, while all this time it could be in the body of either a bat or a person without being transmitted to other individuals.

In their study, scientists usedphylogenetic network - a mathematical algorithm that can map the global movement of organisms through mutations of their genes. At the same time, scientists are still looking for the so-called zero patient - the first known patient with COVID-19, but so far this has not been possible. There are several versions of who could become this null patient, however, it is still impossible to accurately name this person.

Now in 185 countries of the world there are about2.18 million cases of infection with this infection. 80% of all cases occur in nine countries - the USA, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Great Britain, China, Iran and Turkey. At the same time, in China, where the virus came from, there is a significant reduction in the epidemic. In total, from the end of 2019, 146 thousand people died from coronavirus infection, more than 552 thousand people were cured. In Russia, there are a total of 32,007 patients with coronavirus infection, 273 patients died, 2,590 were cured.

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