Novel coronavirus may have been spreading since August: Study – Times of Oman

Novel coronavirus may have been spreading since August: Study – Times of Oman

Harvard Medical School research published Tuesday showed an increased number of hospital visits in Wuhan, the city in central China where SARS-CoV-2 originated, strongly coincided with an increase in internet search terms related to COVID-19 symptoms starting in August 2019.. Researchers analyzed 111 satellite images of parking lots at 6 hospitals in Wuhan between January 2018 and April 2020, and obtained queries from the Chinese search engine Baidu for terms related to COVID-19, like "cough" or "diarrhea" within the same time frame.. "In August, we identify a unique increase in searches for diarrhea which was neither seen in previous flu seasons," according to the report.. The Harvard report builds on a growing body of research exploring whether SARS-CoV-2 was already circulating in China before the Wuhan outbreak was identified..