Maria van, technical director of the WHO health emergency program Kerkhove) said that some countries have carried out retrospective studies on wastewater samples. Some studies have shown that viral RNA was present in European samples in December last year. Recently, cancer screening agencies in Italy found that positive serum samples were found in Italy in September last year. Who has contacted these researchers to carry out further research on these samples?
Malik Peiris, a virologist at the University of Hong Kong and a key witness to the SARS epidemic 17 years ago, told the South China Morning Post that the Italian data "still need further study.".
Gavin Smith, a new professor of infectious diseases at Duke University Medical School in Singapore, said the Italian study may have detected other coronaviruses, or even an unknown but related virus. Many experts and scholars say it is too early to draw a conclusion.
