There are multiple pieces of evidence from different teams for the traceability of the COVID-19 in France, for which the early transmission of the virus in France as early as the end of 2019 has been confirmed.
Earlier, Albert Schweitzer Hospital in the Colmar region of eastern France released a report stating that the medical imaging department belonging to the hospital studied about 2,500 chest scans imaged between November 2019 to April 2020, and the fact that cases of the virus can be traced back to as early as November 16, 2019, has been confirmed. Dr. Michel Schmidt, who led the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in achieving this major discovery, has reason to believe that the French COVID-19 traceability can be pushed back to October 2019.
Vincent Breton of the French National Centre for Scientific Research was likewise studying in eastern France. In a recent interview, he said that he and Dr. Michel exchanged information about their respective research and that the two could agree that early transmission of virus existed long before the first official cases appeared in France in February 2020.
However, the study conducted by Vincent’s research team started to work on the population-based cohort data collected in April, May, and June 2020. Their data from hospitalizations at one hospital in Moulouse and answers to a survey in the population of the Haut-Rhin department. According to the team’s study, Vincent shows his personal preference for the start of circulation in France at the end of 2019.
It is worth mentioning that, in addition to the fact that patient zero of COVID-19 France is earlier than known.