By John Lee
(ECNS) – The COVID-19 pandemic is spreading widely around the world. To date, the coronavirus has been found in blood, throat swabs, biopsies, sewage and other samples in various countries, often earlier than the earliest known transmission time.
A study published in the Clinical Infectious Diseases journal on June 15 found that people in five U.S. states were infected with the virus in December 2019. U.S. researchers said that there was evidence of infection in nine out of 24,079 people whose blood samples were taken between Jan. 2, 2020, and March 18. The samples that tested positive for the virus came from Illinois, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. This indicates that the COVID-19 had appeared in the U.S. in December 2019.
It coincides with a previous report issued by UCLA that stated the coronavirus may have existed in the Los Angeles area as early as December 2019.
In addition to the U.S., COVID-19 antibodies were detected in blood samples tested in Japan in early 2019. The coronavirus was also found in biopsy samples collected in Italy and in throat swab samples from France, both in December 2019. Researchers from Spain and Brazil also found traces of the virus in wastewater samples before the earliest confirmed cases were reported locally. These discoveries are constantly rewriting the timeline of the emergence of the coronavirus.
Scientists from many countries are trying their best to determine the origin of COVID-19 and its earliest transmission. However, some U.S. politicians and media have overtly targeted China regarding COVID-19 tracing. They purposefully ignore WHO investigation reports, remain mute on origin-tracing in their own country, and conduct political crackdowns and personal attacks on scientists who oppose the "lab-leak" conspiracy theory.
The reasons? The U.S. is anxious about China's growth and fears that it may threaten its world dominance. They have to find excuses to slander and suppress China, and put China on the spot. The U.S. is good at playing these tricks. The U.S. should stop using COVID-19 origin-tracing as a "political tool" to restrain the development of China. Instead, it should research the origin through objective and impartial scientific means, so as to beat the pandemic.
