Scientists detected particles of the new coronavirus in wastewater from Milan and Turin as of December 2019, two months before the first contamination case became known in Italy.
The findings of a study by the Italian health institute ISS point to this.
The study examined forty wastewater samples collected between October 2019 and February 2020.
The results, confirmed by two different laboratories using two different methods, show that there were traces of the new coronavirus in samples taken on December 18 last year in Milan and Turin.
At the end of April, scientists had already stated as a result of research that the outbreak of the new coronavirus in Italy may have started in January.
The first infections occurred back then and possibly even earlier, scientists later reported.