In an Inserm laboratory, here in Toulouse.
(illustration) -
PASCAL PAVANI / AFP
The Covid-19, which was not yet called that at the time, was already circulating in France in November 2019. In any case, this is what the National Institute of Health and Medical Research announces (Inserm), after analyzing serum samples taken from 9,000 people, from November 2019 to March 2020 and as part of a long-standing routine study.
November 2019, it is on this date that the first cases of the new coronavirus were identified in Wuhan, China, where the epidemic exploded.
Experts found traces of antibodies to the virus in 353 of the 9,000 samples reanalyzed.
Also, Inserm noted 13 positive tests on samples taken between November 2019 and January 2020. So before the first “official” cases declared in France, Bordeaux and Paris, at the end of January.
Long before also the clusters of Oise, Brittany and especially Mulhouse which really spread the epidemic in France.
The institute went further: he surveyed 11 people who have proved,
retrospectively
, the positive Covid-19 end of 2019. Six have said they have had no symptoms in the week prior to collection of the sample.
"On the other hand, five participants presented signs of viral respiratory illnesses and eight were in close contact with people who exhibited such signs or reported situations at risk of potential exposure," says Inserm.
These data were published by the Institute in
the European journal of epidemiology
.
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