Virus Had Reached Italy By Early Dec, Finds Water Study

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 wastewater has found.

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Researchers discovered genetic traces of SARS-CoV-2 — as the virus is officially known — in samples of wastewater collected in Milan and Turin at the end of last year, and Bologna in January, the ISS institute said in a statement seen by AFP on Friday. Italy’s first known native case was discovered in mid-February. 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. Italy was the first European country to be hit by the virus and the first in the world to impose a nationwide lockdown.