GENEVA/ZURICH: It is "perfectly possible" COVID-19 cases were circulating in November or October 2019 around Wuhan, China, the leader of a World Health Organization mission said on Tuesday, potentially leading to the disease spreading abroad earlier than documented, so far.

The team is still working on finding the exact trace-back of the virus before Wuhan, said Peter Ben Embarek, a WHO official specialised in zoonotic diseases who led the four-week mission of international experts to China in January and February, during a virtual press conference.