BREAKING: The #coronavirus was already present in two large cities in northern Italy by December 18, over two months before the first case was detected, a national study of waste water has found in Milan & Turin. Oct & Nov 2019 water samples negative. https://news.yahoo.com/virus-already-italy-december-waste-water-study-finds-091612239.html

2) “Researchers discovered genetic traces of Sars-CoV-2 -- as the virus is officially known -- in samples of waste water collected in Milan and Turin at the end of last year, and Bologna in January, the ISS institute said”

3) “The results feed into an effort by scientist around the world to trace the virus's family tree. Chinese scientists have said virus likely emerged in a market that sold wildlife in Wuhan in Dec, but officials have recently suggested that it may have originated elsewhere.”

4) “The data was in line with results obtained from retrospective analysis of samples of patients hospitalised in France, which found positive SARS-CoV-2 cases dating back to the end of December, the institute said.”

5) “It also pointed to a recent Spanish study that found genetic traces in waste water samples collected in mid-January in Barcelona, some 40 days before the first indigenous case was discovered.”

6) “Given the large number of coronavirus cases that have few or no symptoms, waste water testing (eg @BiobotAnalytics) is seen as a potential way to signal the presence of the virus even before the first cases are clinically confirmed in areas untouched by the epidemic.”

7) This is now corroborated by blood donation studies in the US that show the coronavirus in December as well. It’s now clear it was worldwide much earlier. https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1333595921960067072

8) UPDATE—Milan has identified a 4 year old with #SARSCoV2 in late November, corroborating the above wastewater study. https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1345438947137236993