{"id":79203,"date":"2021-02-15T14:11:30","date_gmt":"2021-02-15T06:11:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mediaintel.asia\/?p=262669"},"modified":"2021-02-15T14:11:30","modified_gmt":"2021-02-15T06:11:30","slug":"who-mission-finds-evidence-of-wider-covid-outbreak-in-china-in-2019-with-over-12-strains-in-wuhan-by-december","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/2021\/02\/15\/who-mission-finds-evidence-of-wider-covid-outbreak-in-china-in-2019-with-over-12-strains-in-wuhan-by-december\/","title":{"rendered":"WHO mission finds evidence of wider Covid outbreak in China in 2019 with over 12 strains in Wuhan by DECEMBER"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/div>\n

WhatsApp AN investigation from the World Health Organization mission has found evidence of a wider Covid outbreak in China in 2019.
\nA top investigator told CNN they have found that there were over 12 strains in Wuhan by December \u2013 meaning the virus was more wide-ranging than previously thought.
\n6 Wuhan mission leader Peter Ben Embarek said there were more than 12 different strains of Covid-19 in Wuhan by December 2019 Credit: AFP or licensors
\n6 People are seen wearing masks in a store inside a mall in Singapore in January 2020 Credit: EPA
\n6 A box of N95 masks seen in New York in March 2020. A team from the WHO is working to investigate the origins of the Covid pandemic Credit: Reuters
\nPeter Ben Embarek, the lead investigator for the WHO mission, told CNN that the team was able to use partial genetic samples and identify Covid cases from China in December 2019.
\nWith this data, investigators found there were 13 different variants of Covid-19 in Wuhan in December 2019, CNN reported.
\nEmbarek said the investigations show Covid was more widespread than previously thought in early months.
\n\u201cThe virus was circulating widely in Wuhan in December, which is a new finding,\u201d he told CNN.
\nChinese scientists sent the team 174 cases \u2013 100 which were confirmed by the WHO team in lab testing.
\nThe other 74 cases were diagnosed by patient symptoms.
\nDespite roughly 200 cases being suspected, Embrek said it\u2019s possible there was far more.
\nHe told CNN that in Wuhan \u2013 the first known epicenter for the virus \u2013 around 1,000 people may have been infected by December.
\n6 Medical workers are seen tending to patients in the ICU of a Wuhan hospital on February 6, 2020 Credit: Reuters
\n6 Medical staff are seen outside waiting rooms at Red Cross hospital in Wuhan on March 6, 2020 Credit: AFP or licensors
\nIn evaluating the Covid data and finding the different strains, Embarek said scientists have been able to find more info on where the cases originated.
\n\u201cSome of them are from the markets\u2026 Some of them are not linked to the markets,\u201d he told CNN.
\nIt was thought that the Covid-19 spread may somehow be linked with a wet market in Wuhan \u2013 but scientists are still working together to find missing pieces to the puzzle.
\nAustralian infectious diseases expert Dominic Dwyer \u2013 part of the WHO\u2019s team \u2013 previously said China refused to hand over raw data on the country\u2019s first cases.
\nAnother from the Wuhan investigation team, Professor John Watson, said a theory that Covid was leaked from a lab has not been ruled out.
\n\u201cThat\u2019s a hypothesis that remains on the table and could certainly have further work done on it,\u201d Watson told BBC One\u2019s The Andrew Marr Show.
\n6 Patients are seen in a temporary hospital in Wuhan on February 17, 2020 Credit: Alamy Live News
\nNew info giving a look at how widespread Covid may have been in the virus\u2019 early days comes amid concern over new strains that are thought to be more contagious.
\nOne strain that\u2019s become known as the \u201cUK variant\u201d that was found in December 2020 was discovered to be up to 50 times more contagious than the previous Covid strain.
\nOne strain discovered in South Africa was found to be around 60 to 70percent faster at spreading than the early strain. NO ANSWERS
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\nSeveral other strains have sparked concern, as the world continues to hunker down and try to get a hold on virus spread while vaccine rollout is ongoing.
\nDespite new strains emerging, experts have maintained that it\u2019s likely Covid-19 vaccines will still provide protection against the virus.
\nThe White House previously said it\u2019s \u201cdeeply concerned\u201d by the WHO\u2019s Covid report over fears of \u201cChinese interference,\u201d and demanded a release of data. Brit scientist says lab leak CANNOT be ruled out despite WHO insisting its \u2018extremely unlikely\u2019<\/p>\n

This data comes from MediaIntel.Asia's Media Intelligence and Media Monitoring Platform<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WhatsApp AN investigation from the World Health Organization mission has found evidence of a wider Covid outbreak in China in 2019.
\nA top investigator told CNN they have found that there were over 12 strains in Wuhan by December \u2013 meaning the virus wa…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":253,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1380,144,288,785,194,334,1332,296,121],"tags":[10424,3472,10324,10328,1859,2487,7035,10351,10155],"class_list":["post-79203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-africa","category-china","category-medicine","category-new-york","category-news-chinese-law","category-university","category-white-house","category-world-health-organization","category-wuhan","tag-china-general-news","tag-chinese","tag-covid-19","tag-pandemic","tag-singapore","tag-south-africa","tag-vaccine","tag-war","tag-whatsapp"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/253"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79203"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79204,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79203\/revisions\/79204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}