Science&Tech France had its first case of COVID-19 much earlier than it was believed Posted on May 4, 2020 1 min read Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Google+ The coronavirus was known in France earlier than it was believed. On December 27 last year, a patient in a hospital was positive. That has only been established by testing a sample of the man that was taken at the time for the lung virus, French media report. The patient had pneumonia and was admitted to a hospital in the Seine-Saint-Denis region near Paris the day after Christmas. Officially, the first cases of corona infection were only registered in France at the end of January. A total of 24 pneumonia patients have had their preserved samples examined for the new coronavirus. Samples were taken in December and January for control of other corona viruses and flu. According to scientists, the outbreak of the corona virus in Italy, which was the first major western country to hit, also started earlier than officially established. Italy started testing for corona after the first positive diagnosis was made on February 21 in Codogno in northern Italy. Immediately, the number of counted infections skyrocketed.
