On Tuesday, June 9, Tech Times reported that Harvard Medical School published research about the origin of coronavirus. It was said that the disease was spreading in Wuhan, China, months before the country even told the World Health Organization (WHO). Now, the Chinese government mocks the study and said that it was 'incredibly ridiculous' to believe that their theory is true.
Coronavirus started last August?
The Chinese government calls out the recent Harvard study that was published yesterday, June 9. It was concluded in the study that Coronavirus started spreading in Wuhan, China, in August 2019. Contrary to what the Chinese government said that the virus started to spread in December 2019.
ALSO READ: Coronavirus Cure Update: Plasma Transfusion from Survivor's May Speed Up COVID-19 Patients' Recovery
Harvard researchers came up with this idea when they found satellite images of Wuhan hospitals packed with more parked cars in the lots around late summer to fall of 2019 compared to the same months of 2018.
A surge of internet searches regarding the symptoms and the disease were also linked to the idea that it may have started spreading earlier than people thought.
"Individual hospitals have days of high relative volume in both fall and winter 2019. However, between September and October 2019, five of the six hospitals show their highest relative daily volume of the analyzed series, coinciding with elevated levels of Baidu search queries for the terms 'diarrhea' and 'cough,'" the team wrote.
The study clarified that it was not yet peer-reviewed, but this might be a possible scenario that creates controversy with China.
Due to this, the Chinese government now seeks an explanation from the university.
China: Harvard study is 'incredibly ridiculous'
To answer all the claims of Harvard University, Chinese authorities have commented on the issue.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said: "I think it is ridiculous, incredibly ridiculous, to come up with this conclusion based on superficial observations such as traffic volume."
Other experts in the medical field also supported China's dismay with the study.
Paul Digard, an expert in virology at the University of Edinburgh, said that Harvard made an interesting find with the satellite images, but said that "it would have been interesting - and possibly much more convincing - to have seen control analyses of other Chinese cities outside of the Hubei region."
Dr. Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, said the research method is not validated and is "very indirect and imprecise."
The university and the researchers of the study have not yet commented on the issues regarding their early diagnosis of viral disease.
