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WHO to look for early COVID-19 cases in Chinese blood banks

The World Health Organization (WHO) still wants to find out whether there were small Covid-19 outbreaks in China before the first known cases in Wuhan in December 2019, virologist Marion Koopmans said on Friday.

The Dutch scientist was part of the WHO-led team that returned from Wuhan this week after a mission to search for the origins of the coronavirus that causes the Covid-19 disease, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) reported.

The WHO mission did not find conclusive evidence of cases before December 2019.

However, a broad review in Chinese disease statistics turned up 92 patients who fell ill before the known outbreak with Covid-type symptoms, Koopmans told an online WHO press briefing.

Recent blood tests among these patients did not show any virus antibodies, but this might be due to the long time that has passed.

Samples from 2019 that are stored in Chinese blood banks could yield answers, said Koopmans.

“There is discussion ongoing in China to be able to access those,” she said.

The WHO-led mission, which included scientists from China and 10 other countries, has not determined which animals first passed on the virus to humans. Bats and pangolins have been identified as potential sources.

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BNA

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