No indication of COVID-19 virus in Wuhan before December 2019: WHO

Beijing, Feb 09: 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 probing origins of the pandemic in Wuhan said Tuesday.

"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, adding that there was "not enough evidence" to determine if the virus had spread in the city prior to that.

In May last year, the World Health Assembly (WHA) -- the governing body of the 194-member states of the WHO -- approved a resolution to set up an independent inquiry to conduct an "impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation" of the international response as well as that of the WHO.

It also asked the WHO to investigate the "source of the virus and the route of introduction to the human population".

The WHO experts arrived in Wuhan as China is experiencing a relapse of COVID-19 cases.