The immediate hypothesis was that this was a novel coronavirus from an animal source ( a zoonosis ) .Following a publication in The Lancet on 24 January 2020 , of the first 41 admissions with laboratory confirmed 2019-nCoV , where the earliest date for first symptoms was reported as 1 December 2019 , in a person who did not have any exposure to the market or to the remaining affected 40 people , and as the number of secondary and tertiary cases have increased , the significance of the market lessened .
The earliest date for first symptoms of coronavirus was reported on December 1 , 2019 , in a person who kept away from the market and the remaining affected 40 people .