Giuseppe Remuzzi has refuted any suggestion that the virus started in his homeland

A well-known Italian scientist has said Beijing’s attempts to twist his words to suggest the coronavirus originated in Italy is a textbook example of “propaganda”.

Giuseppe Remuzzi, director of the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research in Milan, has refuted any suggestion that the virus started in his homeland after comments he made circulated widely in Chinese state media.

In an interview he gave last week, Professor Remuzzi said that local doctors had reported seeing strange symptoms in older people as far back as November.

He told the American news organisation NPR: “It means that the virus was circulating at least in Lombardy before we were aware of this outbreak occurring in China.”

His comments were seized upon in China as the country sought to