'Patient Su', a 61-year-old woman from Wuhan, is being widely believed to the 'Patient Zero' after her name was accidentally leaked by Chinese officials. The woman was infected a month before China informed the world about the outbreak.
It was towards the end of December 2019, when China informed the World Health Organization about COVID-19. Despite several scientists and researchers insisting that the coronavirus is not natural with a high possibility of a lab leak, China has denied its role towards the spread of the virus.
Patient Su Lived Near Wuhan Institute of Virology
In its report the Daily Mail claimed that the patient's name was accidentally revealed after a Chinese official mistakenly shared a screen grab with Chinese medical journal.
The disclosure was made by Professor Yu Chuanhua, professor of biostatistics at Wuhan University, while speaking with Chinese medical journal Health Times.
He told the journal that out the 47,000 cases he had on his national database included one suspected fatality of a patient who fell ill in late September 2019.
"There is data on a patient who became ill on September 29," he said. "The data shows the patient has not undergone nucleic testing and the clinical diagnosis is a suspected case. The patient has died. The data has not been confirmed."
The professor further spoke abut two more suspected cases that were reported on November 14 and 21. The outlet also shared the screen shots of the two cases from November. It was revealed that Patient Su was treated at Rongjun Hospital in Wuhan. As per the address on her record, she lived in the Kaile Guiyan community on Zhuodaoquan Street, about 600 metres from the medical centre.
The Daily Mail claimed that Patient Su's house and the hospital where she received the treatment were in close vicinity of Wuhan Institute of Virology, the potential source of virus' lab leak.
Demand For Deeper Probe Into COVID-19 Origin Grows
Insisting that China should be more transparent during the investigation being conducted to ascertain the source of global pandemic, Tom Tugendhat MP, chairman of the Common's foreign affairs committee, told the outlet: "The time has come for China to open up all its files so the world can find the truth about the origins of this pandemic. We cannot protect against future risks if there is not recognition that we all need to share knowledge and learn from any mistakes."
David Asher, former lead investigator for the US State Department, had also revealed that three researchers at the controversial Wuhan lab had become ill with a mysterious respiratory condition in November 2019.
In its report Wall Street Journal had also disclosed about the same researchers ending up in the hospital.
The Daily Mail further reported that after China placed a gag order on its citizens, Yu had asked the reporter to retract his statement claiming that the dates of the cases were entered incorrectly.
