The statement by a Chinese official is believed to have been the first acknowledgement the virus was likely to be spreading between humans

The Telegraph
Date: May 2020
By: Nicola Smith

One of the first foreign infectious disease experts to gain access to the Chinese city of Wuhan – the original epicentre of the Covid-19 outbreak – was told by a Beijing official on January 13 that “limited human to human transmission cannot be excluded.”

The statement made to Chuang Yin-ching, a senior official working for Taiwan’s Centres for Disease Control, is thought to be the earliest acknowledgement that the pandemic which has now wreaked havoc across the world was already underway. 

In an exclusive interview with The Telegraph, Mr Chuang’s provides a fascinating window into the confusion on the ground and tensions between health officials that may have allowed the disease to spread out of control in the early stages of the crisis.  

He and a colleague had been permitted to visit Wuhan from January 13-15 to discuss the emerging novel coronavirus with Chinese health officers and doctors.     [FULL  STORY]