{"id":69269,"date":"2020-11-21T14:00:01","date_gmt":"2020-11-21T14:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/?p=69269"},"modified":"2020-11-21T14:00:01","modified_gmt":"2020-11-21T14:00:01","slug":"china-suggests-italy-may-birthplace-covid-19-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/?p=69269","title":{"rendered":"China suggests Italy may be the birthplace of COVID-19 pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"

China is using a new study about the early, hidden spread of coronavirus in Italy to cast doubt on the firmly held assumption that the Asian nation was the birthplace of the pandemic, according to reports.<\/p>\n

Officials in Beijing are pushing a\u00a0new study that suggests\u00a0the contagion may have been spreading in the European nation as early as September \u2014 three months before it was confirmed to be spreading in the long-assumed epicenter in the Chinese city of Wuhan,\u00a0the Times of London noted.<\/p>\n

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The Asian nation has also previously questioned Spain about the origins of the pandemic, as well as the US military, claiming it\u00a0brought the virus to Wuhan\u00a0in October last year during the Military World Games, the report said.<\/p>\n

Chinese state media have now been strongly pushing the idea that the new study by the National Cancer Institute proves that the contagion likely started in Italy, not China, according to the UK paper.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis once again shows that tracing the virus\u2019s source is a complex scientific question that should be left to scientists,\u201d China\u2019s Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said, according to the UK Times. \u201c[It] is a developing process that can involve multiple countries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

The World Health Organization has admitted it is possible that the virus \u201csilently circulated elsewhere\u201d before it was detected in Wuhan.<\/p>\n

However, many scientists are skeptical of the Italian study\u2019s findings \u2014 and others note it does not rule out the coronavirus originating in China.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that China delayed announcing its outbreak so there is no telling when it started there, and China has very strong commercial links with northern Italy,\u201d Giovanni Apolone of Milan\u2019s National Cancer Institute told the UK Times.<\/p>\n

Adv<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n