WHO says France’s COVID-19 case in December “not surprising”

GENEVA: The World Health Organization said Tuesday (May 5) that “it was not surprising” that a COVID-19 report had emerged in France in December, earlier than it was thought to have spread there, saying more early case reports were possible

“It is also possible that more early cases will be found,” WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier said at a UN briefing in Geneva. He encouraged other countries to check case records in late 2019, saying this would give the world a “new and clearer picture” of the outbreak.

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A French hospital that re-analyzed old samples from pneumonia patients found that it had treated a man who had COVID-19 on December 27, almost a month before the French government confirmed his first cases.

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