在2019年12月30日之前，世界衛生組織駐北京辦事處就知道武漢發生「重大公衛事件」。12月26日到12月30日，中國媒體開始關注武漢有新型病毒出現，證據是發送給多家中國基因公司的患者資料。此外，湖北省中西醫結合醫院的張繼先醫師也在這段時間通報衛生部門，有一種新型冠狀病毒正在引發新型疾病，當時約有180人發病。
By no later than December 30, 2019, the World Health Organization office in Beijing knew that there was a 「major public health」 concern in Wuhan. Between December 26 and December 30, China‘s media highlighted evidence of a new virus emerging from Wuhan, based on patient data sent to multiple Chinese genomics companies. Additionally, during this period, Dr. Zhang Jixian, a doctor from Hubei Provincial Hospital of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, told China’s health authorities that a new coronavirus was causing a novel disease that was, at the time, afflicting approximately 180 patients.
隔天，台灣當局向世界衛生組織通報，一種新型病毒可能會人傳人。但是世衛卻沒有跟其他國家分享這項重要資訊，這有可能是出於政治原因。
By the next day, Taiwanese authorities had communicated information to the World Health Organization indicating human-to-human transmission of a new virus. Yet the World Health Organization chose not to share any of this critical information with the rest of the world, probably for political reasons.
