'No indication of Covid-19 spread in Wuhan before Dec 2019': WHO team

Wannian, head of the China team, at a press conference, adding that there was "not enough evidence" to determine if the virus had spread in the city prior to that.

There is insufficient evidence to determine that Covid-19 was being spread in China's central Wuhan before December 2019, a joint WHO and Chinese expert mission into the origins of the pandemic in Wuhan said Tuesday.

Liang Wannian, head of expert panel on COVID-19 response at China's National Health Commission, attends the WHO-China joint study news conference on the study of origins of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at a hotel in Wuhan, Hubei province, China. (REUTERS)

"There is no indication of the transmission of the Sars-Cov-2 in the population of the period before Dec 2019," said Liang Wannian, head of the China team, at a press conference, adding that there was "not enough evidence" to determine if the virus had spread in the city prior to that.