The first known case of Covid-19 is actually a saleswoman in the Huanan market in Wuhan, according to the revelations of an article published by the journal Science on November 18. The World Health Organization (WHO) had said from the start that patient zero was a man who had never been to Wuhan's infamous animal market. What is the thesis advanced by the scientific journal?
This is yet another twist in the investigation into the origins of the first case of Covid-19. The prestigious scientific journal Science is publishing an article this Thursday, November 18, which invalidates the thesis according to which the first case of Covid-19 is a 41-year-old man, unrelated to the Huanan market. The man was infected, according to the Science article, but well after the first case. A market seller would therefore be the first person to be infected with Covid-19 on December 11, 2019, according to these new claims.
He now returns to these assertions and ensures that his new research "provides solid evidence in favor of an origin of the pandemic via a living animal" in this market.
What is the new thesis defended by the virologist? What are the uncertainties pointed out by the journal Science, which would have led the WHO to make a mistake?
WHO's confusion around supposed patient-zero dental problems
The error made by the WHO around the first case of Covid-19 would come from a dental problem, of which this supposed first case of Covid-19 would have been victim at the beginning of December 2019.
The deduction from the virologist behind the Science article comes from a video interview with the patient himself. In the latter, the 41-year-old accountant claims that he was actually suffering from a toothache and that he complained of the first symptoms on December 8, 2019. The man lived 30 km south of Huanan market and had no connection with the latter.
"In this city of 11 million inhabitants, half of the first cases are linked to a place the size of a football field (...). It becomes very difficult to explain this trend if the epidemic does not has not started in this market. " Micheak Worobey, virologist and author of the article in the journal Science
According to the virologist, however, he did not fall ill with Covid-19 until December 16, eight days later. The patient thinks he may have been infected in a hospital or on the subway while traveling. He had also traveled north to Huanan Market shortly before the onset of his symptoms.
Multiple workers in the Huanan market had already reported the disease by that time. A seafood seller would therefore be the first known case, with an onset of illness on December 11, 2019.