WHO: France's first Coronavirus case in December 'not surprising'

World Health Organisation on May 5 stated that it “wasn’t surprising" that cases of COVID-19 could have occurred a month earlier than the official first case was reported. The Geneva-based body added that it was possible for new cases to emerge now. This comes after a French citizen reportedly admitted that he had contracted COVID-19 as early as December 27 and thought it to be Flu. 

“It's also possible there are more early cases to be found,” WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier told a UN press briefing in Geneva. He also encouraged other countries to check their records of cases occurring in late December adding that it would give a “new and clearer“ picture of the pandemic.

According to International media reports, the Avicenne Hospital in Bobigny re-analysed the results of its negative tests of people admitted with pneumonia in December 2019. Surprisingly, out f the 24 patients, one tested positive. The discovery has raised scepticism across the world on how many patients had tested falsely for pneumonia. Currently, the virus has infected 170,551 people and claimed the lives of 25,531 people across France. However, 52,736 have also recovered till now. 

Read: France: Hospital Discovers COVID-19 Case From December After Retesting Samples

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Origin of COVID-19

When asked about the origin of the disease, Lindmeier said it is important to explore this. According to reports, scientists have advised the WHO that genome sequencing of COVID-19 shows that it has a natural origin, refuting all claims indicating the disease to be man-made. Health experts believe that the coronavirus originated from a seafood market in China's Wuhan city, where animals were reportedly being traded illegally. However, the United States has time and again persisted that the disease may have originated in a Chinese laboratory, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo going as far as to say his country has enormous evidence on that. 

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Image Credits: AP