Increasing traffic outside Wuhan hospitals from August 2019 may suggest the coronavirus must have hit the area earlier than reported, a study says.
According to the Harvard researchers, satellite images show an increase in traffic outside five hospitals in the Chinese city from late August to December.
On the other hand, China is not ready to believe this study and said that the study was “ridiculous” and based on “superficial” information. It is believed that the virus was first spotted in China sometime in November.
“Clearly, there was some level of social disruption taking place well before what was previously identified as the start of the novel coronavirus pandemic,” Dr John Brownstein, who led the research, told ABC news.
About five Wuhan hospitals and their surroundings were examined by the researchers through a commercial satellite, comparing data from late summer and autumn 2018 to the same time period in 2019.
In one case, researchers counted 171 cars parked at one of Wuhan’s largest hospitals, Tianyou Hospital in October 2018. Satellite data from the same time in 2019 showed 285 vehicles in the same place, an increase of 67%. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, questioned the research at a press briefing on Tuesday.
“I think it is ridiculous, incredibly ridiculous, to come up with this conclusion based on superficial observations such as traffic volume,” she said.
China reported pneumonia cases with an unidentified cause to WHO on 31 December 2019. Nine days later, Chinese authorities revealed they had detected a novel coronavirus. Furthermore, Wuhan and other Chinese cities went into lockdown on 23 January 2020.
The WHO declared Covid-19 a Public Health Emergency of Global Concern on 30 January 2020.
