US Covid cases found as early as December last year

A new study has found that there were already Covid-19 infections in the United States in December last year, which provides further evidence indicating the coronavirus was spreading globally weeks before the first cases were reported in China.

The study published on Monday identified 106 infections from 7,389 blood samples collected from donors in nine US states between December 13 and January 17.

Bloomberg reported that the samples, collected by the American Red Cross, were sent to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for testing to detect if there were antibodies against the virus.

“The findings of this report suggest that SARS-CoV-2 infections may have been present in the US in December 2019, earlier than previously recognized,” the report stated.

The first reports of mysterious pneumonia in Wuhan, China, first started circulating in late December 2019 before spreading rapidly throughout the city.

The first US case emerged on January 19 this year as the disease spread around the world.

Bloomberg reported that the findings of the study reinforce the growing belief that COVID-19 was silently spreading worldwide earlier than known and that it could reignite debate on the origins of the pandemic.

The CDC study states there were isolated cases in the western parts of the US in mid-December.