No evidence of coronavirus in Wuhan before Dec 2019: WHO

GENEVA: Ben Embarek, head of the World Health Organization-led team probing the origins of coronavirus has that his team has found evidence of a wider circulation of coronavirus outside the Wuhan market in December 2019.

According to Ben Embarek, the WHO team did not find proof of large outbreaks that could be related to coronavirus prior to December 2019 in Wuhan or elsewhere. The investigation related to it had uncovered new information but had not dramatically changed the picture of the COVID-19 outbreak, Embarek asserted.

A joint WHO and China expert mission investigating the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic in Wuhan said on Tuesday it had not found the animal host responsible for transferring the virus to humans. Transmission from animals was likely but so far “the reservoir hosts remain to be identified,” said Liang Wannian, head of the China team, at a press conference.