Scientists have no evidence that a new type of coronavirus was in Chinese Wuhan until December 2019, when an outbreak was recorded there. This was stated by Liang Wannian, Vice-Rector of the Institute of Public Health and Valeology of Tsinghua University and Wanke Company, reports zakon.kz with reference to TASS.

We conducted a database study of pneumonia cases in Wuhan and Hubei province between July and December 2019 (…) There is no evidence that the virus was spreading among the population of Wuhan until December 2019, Liang Wannian said at a special briefing following the the work of the WHO mission in Wuhan.

According to him, experts conducted a study of patient records in Wuhan medical institutions made between October 1 and December 10, 2019. The blood tests from the relevant databases were also checked. As pointed out by Liang Wannian, scientists tried to establish potential, earlier cases of infection in Wuhan, which arose within two months before December 2019, but did not find clear evidence of clinical cases.

The expert also noted that it is impossible to establish how exactly the new type of coronavirus got to the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan, where the first outbreak was recorded in December 2019.

The spread of SARS-CoV-2 was recorded among the population of Wuhan in December 2019. Most of the cases were detected in the second half of this month. Many of the early cases were related to the Huanan market, indicating that this was one of the hot spots for the virus, said Liang Wannian.

At the same time, as he pointed out, “the virus was spreading elsewhere in Wuhan.”

In December 2019, SARS-CoV-2 was spreading among the city’s population: while some of the early cases were associated with the Huanan market, others were associated with other markets. (…) Another part of the cases was not associated with markets in principle, – he stressed.

As Liang Wannian pointed out, “It is likely that the Huanan market has become a hotbed of transmission of the virus, but it has spread elsewhere in Wuhan.” “This is our main judgment. Based on the available information, it is impossible to tell how the virus entered the market,” he explained.

He also said that scientists have not yet discovered in the wild the coronavirus, which is the direct predecessor of the SARS-CoV-2 strain that caused the pandemic, despite the similarity of the forms identified in bats and pangolins.

It is believed (by some experts) that the coronaviruses found in bats and pangolins are closely related to the new coronavirus, with some indicating that these animals may be a carrier of the new coronavirus. But so far this correlation is not enough to argue that viruses carried by two animals became the direct ancestors of the new coronavirus, said Liang Wannian.

According to him, “a virus that is capable of causing a global pandemic must certainly have the ability to adapt well to the human environment.” “This ability can be acquired randomly or gradually develop, but each step benefits from natural selection,” said Liang Wannian.

WHO experts arrived in Wuhan to study the origin of the novel coronavirus on January 14. Upon arrival, they were placed in a two-week quarantine, during which they conducted video-link consultations with their Chinese counterparts. During the visit, WHO experts visited the Wuhan Huanan seafood market, where the coronavirus outbreak was first recorded in December 2019, a number of infectious diseases hospitals in the city, as well as the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Earlier, WHO has repeatedly stated that the search for the source of the first coronavirus infection should start from the city of Wuhan. Last summer, two experts visited the PRC in order to prepare the main mission. The result of this trip was the development by the specialists of the organization and China of a document “On research and the program of activities of an international group led by WHO.”