OREANDA-NEWS. The initial source of the epidemic of the new coronavirus COVID-2019 was not necessarily in China, despite the fact that the outbreak was first registered on its territory.

This was stated by the head of the special expert commission of China’s National Health and Family Planning Commission Zhong Nanshan. According to the epidemiologist, when forecasting and guessing about the epidemic, China is always first taken, but other countries are not considered. Zhong Nanshan noted that cases of the spread of the disease had also appeared in other countries, therefore the virus did not necessarily originate in China.

The scientist emphasized that the source of the new type of coronavirus is still unknown. There is no information about whether the virus existed before it was discovered and which animals, besides pangolins and bats, were intermediate hosts of COVID-19.