Virus might have escaped from Wuhan lab in late september 2019.
"On 7 October 2019, the National IHR Focal Point of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) notified WHO of one laboratory-confirmed case of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection.
The patient is a 44-year-old male non-national farmer from Al Ain city, Abu Dhabi region, UAE. He developed fever, runny nose, headache, vomiting, productive cough and shortness of breath on 25 September 2019, and was admitted to hospital on 29 September. A nasopharyngeal aspirate was collected and tested positive for MERS-CoV by reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) on 3 October at the Shiekh Khalifa Medical Center laboratory. The patient has underlying comorbidities including diabetes mellitus, hypertension and hyperlipidemia. He has a history of close contact with dromedary camels and sheep at nearby farms during the 14 days prior to the onset of symptoms. He has no history of recent travel and has not been involved in the slaughtering of animals. As of 14 October, the patient is in stable condition and is currently in an intensive care unit (ICU)."
https://www.who.int/csr/don/31-october-2019-mers-the-united-arab-emirates/en/
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The report, obtained by the NBC News Verification unit in London, shows no cellphone activity at the Wuhan Institute of Virology between Oct. 7 and Oct. 24, 2019 and says there may have been a “hazardous event” sometime between Oct. 6 and 11. But there is no hard proof either of a shutdown or that the virus mistakenly leaked from the lab.
https://nypost.com/2020/05/09/cellphone-data-could-indicate-october-shutdown-at-wuhan-lab/