Coronavirus: China’s first confirmed Covid-19 case traced back to November 17

Coronavirus: China’s first confirmed Covid-19 case traced back to November 17

• Government records suggest person infected with new disease may are a Hubei resident aged 55, but ‘patient zero’ has yet to be confirmed.

• Documents seen by the Post could help scientists track the spread of the disease and maybe determine its source.

The first case of somebody in China affected by Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, are often traced back to November 17, consistent with government data seen by the South China Morning Post.

Chinese authorities have thus far identified a minimum of 266 people that were infected last year, all of whom came under medical surveillance at some point.

Some of the cases were likely backdated after health authorities had tested specimens taken from suspected patients.

Interviews with whistle-blowers from the medical profession suggest Chinese doctors only realised they were handling a replacement disease in late December.

Scientists are trying to map the pattern of the first transmission of Covid-19 since a plague was reported within the central China city of Wuhan in January, two months before the outbreak became a worldwide health crisis.

Understanding how the disease spread and determining how undetected and undocumented cases contributed to its transmission will greatly improve their understanding of the dimensions of that threat.

According to the govt data seen by the Post, a 55 year-old from Hubei province could are the primary person to possess contracted Covid-19 on November 17.

From that date onwards, one to 5 new cases were reported every day . By December 15, the entire number of infections stood at 27 – the primary double-digit daily rise was reported on December 17 – and by December 20, the entire number of confirmed cases had reached 60.

On December 27, Zhang Jixian, a doctor from Hubei Provincial Hospital of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, told China’s health authorities that the disease was caused by a replacement coronavirus. 

By that date, quite 180 people had been infected, though doctors won't are conscious of all of them at the time.

By the ultimate day of 2019, the amount of confirmed cases had risen to 266, On the primary day of 2020 it stood at 381.

While the govt records haven't been released to the general public , they supply valuable clues about how the disease spread in its youth and therefore the speed of its transmission, also as what percentage confirmed cases Beijing has recorded.

Scientists are now keen to spot the so-called patient zero, which could help them to trace the source of the coronavirus, which is usually thought to possess jumped to humans from a wild animal, possibly a bat.

Of the primary nine cases to be reported in November – four men and five women – none has been confirmed as being “patient zero”. They were all aged between 39 and 79, but it's unknown what percentage were residents of Wuhan, the capital of Hubei and therefore the epicentre of the outbreak.

It is possible that there have been reported cases dating back even before those seen by the Post.

According to the planet Health Organisation’s website, the primary confirmed Covid-19 case in China was on Immaculate Conception , but the worldwide body doesn't track the disease itself but relies on nations to supply such information.

A report published in medical journal The Lancet by Chinese doctors from Jinyintan Hospital in Wuhan, which treated a number of the earliest patients, put the date of the primary known infection at December 1.

Dr Ai Fen, the primary known whistle-blower, told People magazine in an interview that was later censored, that tests showed that a patient at Wuhan Central Hospital was diagnosed on December 16 as having contracted an unknown coronavirus.

Accounts by other doctors seem to suggest the medical profession in Wuhan became conscious of the disease in late December.

Previous reports said that although doctors within the city collected samples from suspected cases in late December, they might not confirm their findings because they were caught up by bureaucracy, like having to urge approval from the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, which could take days. 

They were also ordered to not disclose any information about the new disease to the general public 

As late as January 11, Wuhan’s health authorities were still claiming there have been just 41 confirmed cases.

Source: SCMP

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