There’s new information surrounding coronavirus coming out on a regular basis with researchers across the world trying to figure out as much as they can about the novel virus. However, the latest development in the coronavirus research might indicate that it’s been around longer than anyone actually initially knew.

Cindy Ord/Getty Images

According to CNN, researchers in Britain have found out that the virus may have been circulating since late 2019. The study that was published in the Infection, Genetics and Evolution journal used 7,500 samples from a global database of those diagnosed with  SARS-CoV-2.

“Phylogenetic estimates support that the COVID-2 pandemic started sometime around Oct. 6, 2019 to Dec. 11, 2019, which corresponds to the time of the host jump into humans,” it reads in the pandemic. With the first reported case happening in Dec. 2019, there’s a good chance the virus’ ability to spread made its way to Europe and the U.S.A. way before the virus was actually identified as such. 

The study does reveal the first reported case wasn’t too far removed from the transmission from animal to human. 

 “It’s very recent,” Francois Balloux, genetic researcher at UCL’s Genetics Institute told CNN. “We are really, really, really confident that the host jump happened late last year.”

We’ll keep you posted on any more updates regarding the coronavirus pandemic. 

Yesterday, we reported on how the United States was posed to overtake two of the countries that have been hit worse by the Coronavirus pandemic, that is, Italy and China. Well, shortly after that, it did indeed happen.

This morning, alongside news that even U.K’s Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has tested positive for Coronavirus, we also received news that the United States is officially ahead of Italy and China with confirmed Coronavirus cases. Around the world, countries are doing their best efforts to flatten the curve, that is to say, stifle the amount of new cases on a daily basis and slow the spread of the virus and disease in order to put less of a burden on the economy and perhaps more importantly, people.

Where China has a reported 81,000 cases of COVID-19, and Italy has approximately 80,000, United States is said to have accumulated 82,000 confirmed cases of the deadly virus. This is according to a report from John Hopkins University, where they’re tracking the grand tally of cases. The U.S. has reported 1,200 deaths due to the Coronavirus– 400 of those in New York, whereas Italy has an astounding 8,200 deaths. 

A record-breaking amount of Americans have applied for unemployment amid all of this, as we reported yesterday those numbers reached an all-time high– 3.3 million Americans.

We’re hoping that everyone is staying safe out there, and staying at home as much as possible, as we all do our part to help quell this pandemic.

[]