<\/p>\n The World Health Organization said on Tuesday that a report that COVID-19 had emerged in December in France, sooner than previously thought, was “not surprising,” and urged countries to investigate any other early suspicious cases.<\/p>\n The disease later identified as COVID-19 was first reported by Chinese authorities to the WHO on Dec. 31\u00a0and was not previously believed to have spread to Europe until January.<\/p>\n “This gives a whole new picture on everything,” WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier told a UN\u00a0briefing in Geneva, referring to the French reports.<\/p>\n “The findings help to better understand the potential virus circulation of COVID-19.”<\/p>\n Other possible earlier cases could emerge after retesting samples, he said.<\/p>\n WATCH |\u00a0WHO says COVID-19 may have been circulating in the world earlier than first believed<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n <\/span>The World Health Organization pushes countries to review older cases of pneumonia to gain a clearer picture of the viral spread. 1:01<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n A French hospital that retested old samples from pneumonia patients discovered that it treated a man who had COVID-19 as early as Dec. 27, nearly a month before the French government confirmed its first cases.<\/p>\n Lindmeier encouraged other countries to check records for pneumonia cases of unspecified origin in late 2019, saying this would give the world a “new and clearer picture” of the outbreak.<\/p>\n Asked about the origins of the virus in China, Lindmeier stressed that it was “really, really important” to explore this.<\/p>\n U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo alleges his country has evidence\u00a0that the new coronavirus emerged from a laboratory in Wuhan, China, although scientists have advised the WHO that it is of animal origin.<\/p>\n “That may need further missions or a mission (to China) so we are looking forward to this,” Lindmeier said.<\/p>\n WHO’s top emergencies expert Mike Ryan said on Monday that the body’s chief had raised the issue of the origins of the virus “at the highest level” during a WHO mission to China in January.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i.cbc.ca\/1.5555594.1588679810!\/cpImage\/httpImage\/image.jpg_gen\/derivatives\/16x9_780\/virus-outbreak-france.jpg\")
<\/img><\/p>\n<\/div>Questions about\u00a0origin<\/h2>\n