Coronavirus may have been in Wuhan in August, study suggests

Research finds rise in hospital car park usage and web searches for diarrhoea' and cough'

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Coronavirus may have been present and spreading in Wuhan as early as August last year, according to a study that analysed satellite imagery of car parks outside major hospitals and search engine data.

The study, by researchers from Harvard medical school, Boston University of Public Health and Boston children's hospital, looked at images captured between January 2018 and April 2020 and found a steep increase" in vehicle counts starting in August 2019 and peaking in December 2019. Between September and October, five of the six hospitals observed had their highest daily volume of cars in the period analysed.