China said on Friday that it had detected a European strain of the emerging Coronavirus, which caused the recent outbreak in the capital, Beijing, while the World Health Organization said only that the strain came from outside the city and that further research was needed.
China has released genetic sequence data from samples taken in Beijing, which officials there said had revealed a European strain, based on preliminary studies.
About 183 people were infected with the new outbreak, which started eight days ago and was linked to the Xinfadi Food Wholesale Center in Beijing.
"Breeds and viruses circulate around the world," Mike Ryan, WHO's chief emergency expert, told a news conference in Geneva.
"So I think it does not indicate that Europe is the source of the disease at all. I say that the disease was more likely to come from outside Beijing at some point.
Ryan said it is very important to know when the virus arrived in Beijing, the number of people who have been infected with it since its arrival and the factors that have spread it.
The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said the genetic sequence was published Thursday evening and was shared with the World Health Organization and the Global Influenza Data Initiative.
The center's official, Zhang Yong, said in an article published on Friday by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection on its website, that preliminary results of genome and epidemiological studies indicate that "the virus came from Europe, but differs from the virus currently circulating in Europe."
"It is older than the virus currently circulating in Europe."