Covid-19 may have been spreading through China as long ago as August 2019, a new study from Harvard Medical School reported.
Using satellite images of hospital travel patterns and search engine data from Wuhan where the virus was first detected, the paper suggests that people may have been suffering from the condition long before it was officially declared in December 2019.
"Increased hospital traffic and symptom search data in Wuhan preceded the documented start of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in December 2019," the research said, using the official medical name for the novel coronavirus.
"While we cannot confirm if the increased volume was directly related to the new virus, our evidence supports other recent work showing that emergence happened before identification at the Huanan Seafood market," the study, led by Elaine Okanyene Nsoesie of the Department of Global Health at Boston University School of Public Health and Benjamin Rader of the Computational Epidemiology Lab at Boston Children’s Hospital, said.
While the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan has been linked to many of the first patients suffering from the coronavirus in December 2019, the paper points to other studies that found at least 14 early cases had no tie to the location, including the first known case. This, it suggested, “leaves open the possibility of alternative points of origin and infection”.
“This hypothesis is supported by emerging epidemiologic and phylogenetic evidence indicating that the virus emerged in southern China and may have already spread internationally, and adapted for efficient human transmission, by the time it was detected in late December,” the paper said.
The study said that imaging showed busier than usual hospitals in the area and increase in searches for symptoms now associated with Covid-19.
“We observe an upward trend in hospital traffic and search volume beginning in late summer and early fall 2019,” the researchers said. “While queries of the respiratory symptom ‘cough’ show seasonal fluctuations coinciding with yearly influenza seasons, ‘diarrhoea’ is a more Covid-19 specific symptom and only shows an association with the current epidemic. The increase of both signals precedes the documented start of the Covid-19 pandemic in December, highlighting the value of novel digital sources for surveillance of emerging pathogens.”
The satellite images showed that while there has been a general increase in traffic at hospitals in the city over the past few years, there was a steep increase from August 2019.
This then tallied with a surge in local online searches for symptoms including “diarrhoea” and “cough” – both associated with Covid-19. While it highlights that the search term “cough” has seasonal peaks associated with other flues and influenzas, “both search query terms show a large increase approximately 3 weeks preceding the large spike of confirmed Covid-19 cases”.
“While we cannot confirm if the increased volume [of searches and trips to hospitals] was directly related to the new virus, our evidence supports other recent work showing that emergence happened before identification at the Huanan Seafood market," it said. "These findings also corroborate the hypothesis that the virus emerged naturally in southern China and was potentially already circulating at the time of the Wuhan cluster."
The Laughing Apple
Yusuf/Cat Stevens
(Verve Decca Crossover)
Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
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How tumultuous protests grew
- A fuel tax protest by French drivers appealed to wider anti-government sentiment
- Unlike previous French demonstrations there was no trade union or organised movement involved
- Demonstrators responded to online petitions and flooded squares to block traffic
- At its height there were almost 300,000 on the streets in support
- Named after the high visibility jackets that drivers must keep in cars
- Clashes soon turned violent as thousands fought with police at cordons
- An estimated two dozen people lost eyes and many others were admitted to hospital
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Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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ABU%20DHABI'S%20KEY%20TOURISM%20GOALS%3A%20BY%20THE%20NUMBERS
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Company profile
Name: Oulo.com
Founder: Kamal Nazha
Based: Dubai
Founded: 2020
Number of employees: 5
Sector: Technology
Funding: $450,000
West Asia Premiership
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What can you do?
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In criminal cases, you can contact the police for additional support
Key products and UAE prices
iPhone XS
With a 5.8-inch screen, it will be an advance version of the iPhone X. It will be dual sim and comes with better battery life, a faster processor and better camera. A new gold colour will be available.
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Russia's Muslim Heartlands
Dominic Rubin, Oxford
MATCH INFO
Everton v Tottenham, Sunday, 8.30pm (UAE)
Match is live on BeIN Sports
ZAYED SUSTAINABILITY PRIZE
COMPANY PROFILE
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Core42
Current number of staff: 47
A German university was a good fit for the family budget
Annual fees for the Technical University of Munich - £600
Shared rental accommodation per month depending on the location ranges between £200-600
The family had budgeted for food, books, travel, living expenses - £20,000 annually
Overall costs in Germany are lower than the family estimated
As proof that the student has the ability to take care of expenses, international students must open a blocked account with about £8,640
Students are permitted to withdraw £720 per month
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
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Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
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Fight card
1. Featherweight 66kg: Ben Lucas (AUS) v Ibrahim Kendil (EGY)
2. Lightweight 70kg: Mohammed Kareem Aljnan (SYR) v Alphonse Besala (CMR)
3. Welterweight 77kg:Marcos Costa (BRA) v Abdelhakim Wahid (MAR)
4. Lightweight 70kg: Omar Ramadan (EGY) v Abdimitalipov Atabek (KGZ)
5. Featherweight 66kg: Ahmed Al Darmaki (UAE) v Kagimu Kigga (UGA)
6. Catchweight 85kg: Ibrahim El Sawi (EGY) v Iuri Fraga (BRA)
7. Featherweight 66kg: Yousef Al Husani (UAE) v Mohamed Allam (EGY)
8. Catchweight 73kg: Mostafa Radi (PAL) v Ahmed Abdelraouf of Egypt (EGY)
9. Featherweight 66kg: Jaures Dea (CMR) v Andre Pinheiro (BRA)
10. Catchweight 90kg: Tarek Suleiman (SYR) v Juscelino Ferreira (BRA)
