Researchers at Milan’s Sacco Hospital announced that they had isolated in four patients an Italian variation of COVID-19, with differences from the strain identified in Wuhan, China, where the epidemic began. They expressed hope the discovery could lead to more targeted treatment of patients.
Research suggests the virus might have been present for some time in Italy before cases started exploding in Lombardy. “The virus has been circulating under the radar for a few weeks,” Galli, the hospital’s director of biomedical and clinical services, told state TV.