WHO Team: No Coronavirus in Wuhan before Dec. 2019

On Tuesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) team revealed that there is no evidence that COVID-19 was circulating in the Chinese city of Wuhan before December 2019.

At a press conference to unveil the findings of the 1st phase of an international inquiry into the origins of the pandemic, a WHO expert said that the animal source of the Coronavirus has not been determined yet.

It is thought the virus originally circulated in bats or pangolins.

“The high susceptibility of mink and cats to Sars-Cov-2 suggest there may be additional species of animals - for example, dogs or felines - that act as potential reservoirs,” he said.

The team, which worked through videoconference while in quarantine, is led by Peter Ben Embarek, WHO's top expert on animal diseases that cross to other species.

The team was set to arrive in Wuhan relay in January, and China’s delay of their visit drew rare public criticism from the head of WHO, which former U.S. President Donald Trump accused of being “China-centric” early in the outbreak.

China has been pushing a narrative that the virus existed abroad before it was discovered in Wuhan, with state media citing the presence of the virus on imported frozen food packaging and scientific papers claiming it had been circulating in Europe in 2019.

China’s foreign ministry has also hinted on several occasions that the sudden closure of the U.S. Army laboratory at Fort Detrick in Maryland in July 2019 was linked to the outbreak.