The President of the United States is fond of spitting out the word "China" when he talks of Covid-19, but there are now signs that the virus was in Italy for months before it was in China.
The Zika virus was first reported in some Pacific island countries, but is believed to have originated in Uganda. And the 1918 flu pandemic, which was first reported by the Spanish government and labelled the Spanish flu, had its earliest recorded outbreak in a military base in the US state of Kansas.
A variety of questions remain. Could Sars-CoV-2 have developed from similar viruses in Italy, and could that explain why early cases in Italy seemed less prevalent? How was it transferred to Wuhan?
Ultimately, it helps us all to understand this virus more, including its origins. We can also hope that the evolving discoveries undercut some of the anti-Chinese racism that has stemmed from the US President and others.
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