"The Covid-19 pandemic may have started as early as October, according to a new joint study of its genetic make-up by researchers at University College London and the University of Reunion Island.
The pathogen wreaking havoc on the world, known scientifically as SARS-CoV-2, is thought to have made the jump from its initial host to humans at some point between October 6 and December 11.
The findings – based on analysis of more than 7,000 genome sequence assemblies collected from around the world since January – will be published in a forthcoming edition of scientific journal Infection Genetics and Evolution.
Researchers studied the evolution of the mutations since they jumped to humans in order to work back their molecular clocks to a common starting point.
Separately, Chinese government information, seen previously by the South China Morning Post, suggests one of the first patients to emerge was a 55-year-old resident of Hubei province on November 17. "Patient zero" has not yet been confirmed.
The theory the virus was circulating earlier than had been thought came after a French athlete who fell ill after competing in Wuhan in October said she had been told by doctors it was likely that she had caught Covid-19.
The claim by Olympic silver-winning pentathlete Elodie Clouvel bolstered theories that coronavirus may have been carried around the world by people who had taken part in an international competition in the Chinese city.
Ms Clouvel, 31, said that she and her 27-year-old boyfriend Valentin Belaud, also a pentathlete, had fallen ill after the Military World Games, held in Wuhan between October 18 and 27 and featuring 9,308 athletes from 109 countries. "
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Falling ill during and after big sporting events is quite common and I would like to see proof that it was Covid-19. It is a scenario that could explain it becoming established before it was noticed because any infected athletes would be going back to different Countries so maybe just one or two to each different locality. This would then take 30 days or so after that before it might start to show up in that local population.