CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS — Satellite imagery of vehicle traffic around hospitals in Wuhan suggests the coronavirus may have struck the city months before the outbreak was acknowledged, according to Harvard University researchers.<br /><br />The manuscript of the study has yet to be peer reviewed.<br /><br />According to the paper, the team reviewed satellite traffic images at the parking lots of six hospitals in the autumn of 2019. The researchers found a surge in the number of parked cars after comparing the data to the same period in the previous year.<br /><br />At the Wuhan Tianyou Hospital, which is one of the city's largest, the team counted 285 cars and trucks. This traffic volume is viewed as a proxy for respiratory patient intake and the count marked a 67 percent increase over 2018.<br /><br />Additionally, the team analyzed internet search terms in China and found a significant uptick in searches for the words "cough" and "diarrhoea."
