‘The first patient diagnosed with the novel coronavirus has been reported to be a bed-bound pensioner who had no connection to a food market in Wuhan where Beijing’s officials say the outbreak began.
The revelation, made by BBC, echoed with the information disclosed in a previous medical research, which has prompted Chinese people to speculate about the possible alternative sources of the deadly disease.
Over the weekend, a mysterious virus lab became the centre point of Chinese social media after online accounts suggested that the lethal virus had come from there – allegations the state-run institute has denied and branded as rumours.
Beijing’s experts claim that the deadly coronavirus outbreak began at Huanan Seafood Wholesales Market in Wuhan. They believe the virus was passed onto humans through wildlife sold as food.
The virus, formally known as COVID-19, has killed at least 1,873 people and infected more than 73,330 worldwide since it emerged in Wuhan late last year.
According to public notices released by Wuhan Municipal Health Commission, the first coronavirus patient appeared on December 8 and most of the initial patients were linked to the seafood market.
But BBC reported that the very first sufferer, also known as the ‘patient zero’, was a pensioner in his 70s who was bed-bound due to a stroke and suffered from dementia.
The unnamed man fell ill on December 1 – a week earlier than officials’ claims – and had not been to the seafood market prior to falling ill, a doctor told BBC.
Prof Wu Wenjuan, a director at intensive care units of Wuhan’s Jinyintan Hospital, told the news outlet yesterday that the pensioner had had to stay at home due to his health condition and had no connection with Huanan.’
