Early Circulation of SARS-CoV-2, Congo, 2020

Abstract

To determine when severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 arrived in Congo, we retrospectively antibody tested 937 blood samples collected during September 2019–February 2020. Seropositivity significantly increased from 1% in December 2019 to 5.3% in February 2020, before the first officially reported case in March 2020, suggesting unexpected early virus circulation.

Keywords

• COVID-19
• 2019 novel coronavirus disease
• coronavirus disease
• severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
• SARS-CoV-2
• viruses