The man who was treated in December for pneumonia told French broadcaster BFMTV that to his knowledge, he had not been to China and was not in contact with anyone who had been there.
Two French doctors said Tuesday the coronavirus was in Europe a month earlier than originally believed. Acting on a hunch, they decided to take another look at a number of patients who were treated in intensive care for pneumonia in December and January.
They ran new tests on old swabs taken from patients in the Paris region. One of them, from a man living in a suburb of the French capital, came back positive for COVID-19. The 43-year-old man was admitted to the hospital on December 27, four weeks before the first three cases in Europe were confirmed.
