Italy may have had coronavirus cases in December – a month earlier than doctors thought

ITALY may have coronavirus cases as far back as DECEMBER, it emerged yesterday.

Almost 30,000 people have died from the killer bug in Italy and initially doctors thought the virus may have been circulating since mid January.

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Events organiser Silvia Barbagallo tested positive for Covid-19 antibodies after falling ill before Christmas.

She developed symptoms after returning to Rome from an African holiday.

She said: “This virus was already here months ago but we didn’t know about it. I was infected in December but i only found out a few days ago that I have Covid-19 antibodies after having a test.”

“I am not counted in any statistics but how many other cases must there be? I have been contacted by hundreds of others on Facebook with similar stories.”

“In early March I had a test for coronavirus as I thought it would be prudent but was negative, but then a few days ago my son developed a high fever.”

“At that point we decided to all go as a family for tests at a private lab and that’s when I discovered I was positive for the Covid antibodies, I had the immunoglobulin G which meant that I’d had a historical infection.”

A French fish market trader says what he thought was severe flu in December is now confirmed as Covid-19.

Amirouche Hammar, 43, said he too had displayed all the classic symptoms of Covid-19 in December.

Dr Yves Cohen, of Avicenne hospital where he was treated, said: “We’re wondering whether he was asymptomatic.”

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