Novel coronavirus not from Wuhan, says top German virologist

The novel coronavirus rampant around the world is not from the central Chinese city of Wuhan, but a mutation from northern Italy, top German virologist Alexander Kekule said on Thursday.

The Italian strain is called "G" mutant, which has genetic mutations, explained Prof. Kekule on the ZDF talk show. It is likely to be more contagious than the variant found in Wuhan, where was once the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in China.

Over 99 percent of the COVID-19 cases can be genetically traced back to the Italian variant, and even the current cases in China are re-imported from Europe and the rest of the world, the German news agency Weser Courier reported citing the virologist.

He noted that for a global pandemic, the starting shot was fired in northern Italy.

The expert said Italy's long ignorance for the warnings from China and lack of countermeasures are to blame, otherwise the original virus could have been brought under control.

(CGTN)