China denies virus first hit in August

China has hit back at a claim that its coronavirus outbreak began as long ago as August last year, describing the evidence as ‘‘superficial’’ and the conclusion as ‘‘absurd’’.

Chinese officials did not notify the World Health Organisation until December 31 that a new respiratory disease was spreading through the city of Wuhan.

But researchers at Harvard Medical School have reported that satellite images showed ‘‘dramatic’’ increases in activity in hospital car parks there ‘‘beginning late summer and early fall 2019’’.

At the same time there was an increase in Chinese internet searches for ‘‘symptoms that would later be determined as closely associated’’ with the virus. Searches on the Baidu browser for ‘‘cough’’ and ‘‘diarrhoea’’ began to increase from August.

In mid-September, car volume surged at Wuhan’s Tongji Medical College.

On October 10 at the city’s Tianyou Hospital 285 cars were parked – 67 per cent more than on that day a year earlier.

‘‘Our evidence supports other recent work showing that the emergence happened before identification at the Huanan seafood market,’’ the researchers said.

Professor John Brownstein, who led the research, told ABC News: ‘‘Clearly there was some level of social disruption taking place well before what was previously identified as the start of the novel coronavirus pandemic.’’

The study states that diarrhoea had not been a feature of previous flu seasons.

‘‘This finding lines up with the recent recognition that gastrointestinal symptoms are a unique feature of Covid-19 disease.’’

China denies knowledge of earlier cases and insists that it has been forthcoming and transparent in sharing information.

Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for the foreign ministry, said that the world should refrain from jumping to conclusions.

‘‘It’s particularly absurd to come to such conclusions only based on superficial evidence such as traffic volume,’’ she said. ‘‘There are all sorts of speculations, but we should leave it to scientists to come up with a scientific conclusion.’’

Ma Xiaowei, director of the National Health Commission, said there had been ‘‘no delay or cover-up whatsoever by the Chinese government’’.

However, Li Wenliang, a Wuhan doctor, was investigated for ‘‘spreading rumours’’ after telling his colleagues in December of a new disease resembling Sars. He died of the virus in February. The Times, London