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Hospitals in France have confirmed that France had COVID-19 outbreaks in November, a month before China. China was the first to detect COVID-19 but the WHO has called on other nations to investigate cases that likely began earlier than China's discovery. https://amp.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3083599/france-had-covid-19-november-hospital-says-after-analysis-chest?__twitter_impression=true
European researchers found that France's COVID-19 strains did not originate from China and that the virus had been circulating in France long before China's cases. They also found that China's strains are genetically younger than the strains in the US. https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3081959/coronavirus-outbreak-france-did-not-come-directly-china-gene
The mayor of Belleville, New Jersey tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies and believes he had COVID-19 in November 2019 in the US, a month before cases in China were discovered. He had severe COVID-19 symptoms back in November & had not traveled abroad. https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/essex/belleville/2020/04/30/belleville-nj-mayor-tests-positive-coronavirus-antibodies/3057925001/
If reports that COVID-19 has been infecting people across the world for a while undetected are true, it means China was the first to detect the virus, alert the world, sequence it, & create a pandemic model for other nations to follow, which means China has saved countless lives.
