Coronavirus outbreak in France did not come directly from China, gene-tracing scientists say
- Researchers conclude that the virus was circulating undetected in France in February
- Findings highlight the difficulties governments face in tracing the source of coronavirus outbreaks
Genetic analysis showed that the dominant types of the viral strains in France belonged to a clade – or group with a common ancestor – that did not come from China or Italy, the earliest hotspot in Europe.
“The French outbreak has been mainly seeded by one or several variants of this clade … we can infer that the virus was silently circulating in France in February,” said researchers led by Dr Sylvie van der Werf and Etienne Simon-Loriere in a non-peer reviewed paper released on bioRxiv.org last week.
The Covid-19 pandemic has infected more than 128,000 people in France and caused more than 23,000 deaths.
France detected the virus in late January, before any other country in Europe. A few patients with a travel history that included China’s Hubei province were sampled on January 24 and tested positive.
The French government took quick and decisive measures to trace contacts of the infected people and shut down the chance of further infection.