The coronavirus outbreak may not have originated in China and instead lay dormant around the globe waiting for the right conditions to activate, a university expert has suggested.
Rather than the city of Wuhan being the centre for Covid-19, the disease might have been lying in wait in several countries around the world.
Early research has shown that the virus thrives in temperatures of 4°C found in sewers and meat factories, said Dr Tom Jefferson, senior associate tutor at the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine at Oxford University.
He believes that there is evidence that Covid-19 appeared earlier last year in Europe and South America.
Spanish virologists said last week that they had found traces in waste water samples gathered in March 2019, scientists in Brazil found traces in November and evidence of coronavirus was discovered in northern Italy in December.
"I think the virus was already here, here meaning everywhere," Dr Jefferson told The Telegraph. "We may be seeing a dormant virus that has been activated by environmental conditions."
He added: “There was a case in the Falkland Islands in early February. Now where did that come from? There was a cruise ship that went from South Georgia to Buenos Aires, and the passengers were screened and then on day eight, when they started sailing towards the Weddell Sea they got the first case. Was it in prepared food that was defrosted and activated?
“Strange things like this happened with Spanish Flu. In 1918 around 30 per cent of the population of Western Samoa died of Spanish Flu, and they hadn’t had any communication with the outside world.”
However, other reports have emerged that the virus may have first developed in a cave full of bats in China in 2013. The Sunday Times reported that toxic samples, which killed three people, were taken for examination at the biosafety lab in Wuhan.
Dr Jefferson said Covid-19 could be transmitted through sewage or shared lavatories not just through droplets from coughing.
With outbreaks at meat factories it could also spread where food is prepared at a certain temperature. Last month Germany had a severe outbreak of Covid-19 when 1,300 workers tested positive at a major meat production centre that operated at 4°C. It is possible the virus spread because people failed to wash their hands correctly, Dr Jefferson said.
He suggested that environmental conditions or the human population could potentially provide the right circumstances to activate the virus. He urged the authorities tried to carry out an investigation to track down precisely how, where and when Covid-19 came into being.
“These outbreaks need to be investigated properly with people on the ground, one by one,” he said. “You question people and you start constructing hypotheses that fit the facts, not the other way around.”
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Rating: 4/5
Directed by: Joseph Kosinski
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How much do leading UAE’s UK curriculum schools charge for Year 6?
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- Kings School Al Barsha (Dubai) – Dh71,905
- Brighton College Abu Dhabi - Dh68,560
- Jumeirah English Speaking School (Dubai) – Dh59,728
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Company profile
Date started: 2015
Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki
Based: Dubai
Sector: Online grocery delivery
Staff: 200
Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends
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The Bio
Favourite place in UAE: Al Rams pearling village
What one book should everyone read: Any book written before electricity was invented. When a writer willingly worked under candlelight, you know he/she had a real passion for their craft
Your favourite type of pearl: All of them. No pearl looks the same and each carries its own unique characteristics, like humans
Best time to swim in the sea: When there is enough light to see beneath the surface
French business
France has organised a delegation of leading businesses to travel to Syria. The group was led by French shipping giant CMA CGM, which struck a 30-year contract in May with the Syrian government to develop and run Latakia port. Also present were water and waste management company Suez, defence multinational Thales, and Ellipse Group, which is currently looking into rehabilitating Syrian hospitals.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Cryopreservation: A timeline
- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
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Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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Family reunited
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was born and raised in Tehran and studied English literature before working as a translator in the relief effort for the Japanese International Co-operation Agency in 2003.
She moved to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies before moving to the World Health Organisation as a communications officer.
She came to the UK in 2007 after securing a scholarship at London Metropolitan University to study a master's in communication management and met her future husband through mutual friends a month later.
The couple were married in August 2009 in Winchester and their daughter was born in June 2014.
She was held in her native country a year later.
