New study finds COVID-19 in Milan boy in November 2019

A new study has found evidence of COVID-19 in a boy from the Milan area as early as the end of November 2019, months before the first identified coronavirus disease case in Italy.

Researchers from Italy and Canada analysed oropharyngeal swab specimens collected from September 2019 to February 2020 from 39 consenting patients, and a sample tested positive from the 4-year-old boy who lived in the surrounding area of Milan and had no reported travel history, according to the study published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The child had cough and rhinitis on November 21, 2019, and his specimen was obtained on December 5, two weeks after the symptom onset, for clinical diagnosis of suspected measles, the article said.

"These findings, in agreement with other evidence of early COVID-19 spread in Europe, advance the beginning of the outbreak to late autumn 2019," the study said.

"Long-term, unrecognized spread of SARS-CoV-2 in northern Italy would help explain, at least in part, the devastating impact and rapid course of the first wave of COVID-19 in Lombardy."

The Italian Health Ministry said on Friday that an additional 16,999 people tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Italy, confirming a downward trend in the number of single-day cases seen since late November.

The latest data confirmed a flattening in the curve of the second wave here, suggesting the comprehensive package of rules implemented since early November -- and based on a three-tier system defining a different level of alert and of restrictions for each region -- was delivering results.