The article mentions December 2019, I found another article [1] showing SARS-CoV-2 as early as September 2019 in Italy.

From the article: "A further SARS-CoV-2 antibodies test was carried out by the University of Siena for the same research titled “Unexpected detection of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the pre-pandemic period in Italy”.

It showed that four cases dating back to the first week of October were positive for antibodies, meaning they had got infected in September, Giovanni Apolone, a co-author of the study, told Reuters."

[1] https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-italy-tim...