He told CNN : "The virus was circulating widely in Wuhan in December, which is a new finding." Chinese scientists sent the team 174 cases, of which 100 were confirmed by the WHO team in lab testing and the rest were diagnosed by patient symptoms. In doing so they found 13 different genetic sequences of the SARS-COV-2 virus that were circulating in December 2019. Chinese scientists also gave the WHO analysis of 92 suspected cases of Covid-19 from October and November 2019. Other strains discovered in South Africa and Brazil were also found to be much more contagious than the previous variant.

Source: Daily Mirror February 15, 2021 13:57 UTC