So it has been in Europe since December..

[Bol87]

www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-italy-sewage-idUSKBN23Q1J9

So this seems fairly conclusive that it’s been kicking around for way longer than March..

Doesn’t this open the possibility we can’t ever know where the virus actually started?! It could have been Europe & it was taken back to Wuhan?!

Given the extra activity in and around Wuhan hospitals before December and the way outbreaks then happened around the rest of the world, I think it’s fairly obvious it started in China and spread elsewhere before China decided to share any concerns with the world. It’s a bit ridiculous to assume it hasn’t already been around for quite some time before you notice a lot of cases. So if China had to say something by December, it was obviously spreading there for a few months before that.

Virus did originate in China:

www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/covid-19-genetic-network-analysis-provides-snapshot-of-pandemic-origins

Evidence is mounting that that it began long before China disclosed it.

The press were running stories a few weeks back on China now accepting the virus didn’t start in a wet market, a simple google can find these stories.

We don't know (or rather, we haven't been told) the half of it.

This is a really interesting article - I think the numbers speak for themselves!!

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/coronavirus-china-had-ten-times-more-flu-cases-than-usual-in-december-fm869vt70

Seems quite possible that it was in Spain in December but did not spread then. So not really 'since' but more on/off since December.

I think might have had it in between Xmas and the New Year. I had a high fever of 39.4, I spent almost three weeks in bed I felt exhausted, had continuous dry cough, I coughed so much I lost my voice and it went hoarse, that lasted until late Feb when I went to GP and was told I had pneumonia in one lung. I had some days where I struggled to breath and thought it was my asthma playing up. I took do much inhaler. I still felt tired a lot until mid March. Then during lockdown it eased off. The thing is I had not travelled abroad not knew any of my friends that had. I don't know how I could have got it if it was not already in UK. I am hoping to get anti body text to find out if what I had was Covid or not.

How much do antibody tests cost? Are they reliable?

Antibody tests cost around £99 and you may be able to get one via your GP.

But they are not reliable because it might be that people use their t-cells to fight off mild cases so you don't have antibodies when you are tested and could get a false negative.

I'm convinced I had it in early February, I'm never really ill and have had a cough twice in my life. I had a fever which only lasted 24 hours then bone crushing exhaustion and a dry cough which left me breathless for weeks. I was still coughing first thing in the morning for 2 months after. It was in the news a lot as Italy were reporting loads of cases, I went to my GP who said couldn't be Covid as we had no cases here though she was seeing a big increase in seasonal respiratory infections which with hindsight I'd bet my house on them being Covid.

To be fair it could have been the flu. I rarely get ill and I’m very fit and active. I coughed so much with the flu I strained a rib muscle, so had to cope with an awful stabbing pain when I breathed for weeks, took me ages to recover.