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Coronavirus was in Italy in December, waste water study finds
- Researchers discovered genetic traces of the virus in samples of waste water collected in Milan and Turin at the end of last year
- Italy’s first known native case was discovered mid-February
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The coronavirus was already present in two large cities in northern Italy in December, over two months before the first case was detected, a national health institute study of waste water has found.
Researchers discovered genetic traces of Sars-Cov-2 – as the virus is officially known – in samples of waste water collected in Milan and Turin at the end of last year, and Bologna in January, the ISS institute said in a statement on Friday.
Italy’s first known native case was discovered mid-February.
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The results “help to understand the start of the circulation of the virus in Italy,” the ISS said.
They also “confirm the by-now consolidated international evidence” as to the strategic function of sewer samples as an early detection tool, it added.
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Italy was the first European country to be hit by the virus and the first in the world to impose a nationwide lockdown. The first known case, other than a couple of visiting Chinese tourists, was a patient in the town of Codogno in the Lombardy region.
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