Researchers: Satellite images hint coronavirus started in China earlier than first reported | TheHill

Researchers at Harvard Medical School say that satellite data and internet search traffic indicate that the coronavirus pandemic began in Wuhan, China, months before authorities alerted the World Health Organization (WHO) about the virus.

Study authors told ABC News that analysis of data from as far back as October of last year indicated a surge in vehicle traffic around hospitals in the city, a spike that coincided with a rise in internet search traffic for “certain symptoms that would later be determined as closely associated with the novel coronavirus” from residents of the city.

Something was happening in October, Dr. John Brownstein, the study’s leader, told ABC. Clearly, there was some level of social disruption taking place well before what was previously identified as the start of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

via thehill.com