Italian Research Team: "COVID-19 Did Not Originate from China"

SCMP Cites Research Team from Milan University in Report

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] There is a claim that the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) that spread mainly in northern Italy may not have been directly transmitted from China.

On the 22nd, according to the Hong Kong South China Morning Post (SCMP), a research team led by Professor Carlo Federico Perno of the University of Milan in Italy recently published these research results through a medical preprint site.

Lombardy, Italy, is known as the first region in Europe where COVID-19 spread around February 20, and it accounts for more than one-third of all confirmed cases in Italy. Italy had already suspended flights with China at the end of January, the earliest in the West.

The research team traced the origin of the virus by analyzing 346 COVID-19 patient samples from Lombardy collected between February and April using genetic sequencing methods.

As a result, there were two lineages of the virus, but none matched the virus strain released by China in early January.

The researchers stated, "It is possible that the virus was introduced into Lombardy from various regions." The most likely region is Central Europe, where virus strains with mutations similar to those in Lombardy were observed.

Additionally, the research team estimated that the virus was introduced into the Lombardy region in late January.

Earlier, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and New York health authorities also recently released reports confirming that the virus circulating in New York in March did not come from China, SCMP reported.

Furthermore, studies from France and Russia have also announced results indicating that the viruses circulating in their countries did not originate from China.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.