A CHINESE man from Hubei - the epicentre of coronavirus – was infected in November and could be patient zero, a bombshell report says.

The unnamed 55-year-old contracted COVID-19 on November 17 – a month before it was previously believed to have emerged, government data shows.

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3 Government data in China has revealed that a 55-year-old man from Hubei could be coronavirus' patient zero Credit: AFP or licensors

According to the South China Morning Post, the Chinese government has identified 266 people who were infected in 2019.

However, the authorities in China only became aware that they were dealing with a new strain of virus in late December.

Before a whistleblower medic from Hubei alerted officials on Dec 27 up to five new cases were being reported in China each day, it has emerged.

'PATIENT ZERO'

By the end of the year, more than 180 people had been struck down by the bug which has now spread across the world killing nearly 6,000.

The identity of the man who could be Patient Zero has yet to be publicly revealed.

It is believed that the infection was passed onto one person at a food market in Wuhan through animal, most likely a bat.

Wuhan in Hubei province was the original epicentre of the bug which has now ravaged Europe including Italy where over 21,000 have been infected.

OUTBREAK IN WUHAN

Over 153,000 people around the world have been struck down with coronavirus.

Last month, the first scientific evidence revealed that the virus DID come from bats and is a version of SARS - a pandemic in 2002-2003 which killed 774 people.

Two new scientific studies, published today in the journal Nature, have together provided the first formal evidence on the deadly new illness.

3 The outbreak was thought to have started at a food market in Wuhan Credit: AFP or licensors

3 A medical worker takes a swab from a previously recovered COVID-19 patient at a hospital in Wuhan Credit: AFP or licensors

Their findings confirm that the Wuhan coronavirus is a type of SARS - but one that can spread more easily.

Experts have claimed that up to 60 per cent of the world could contract coronavirus – a figure that could also be applicable to Britain.

Out of the infected population it is estimated that 1 per cent could die, which in the UK’s case would be hundreds of thousands of people.

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Professor Ferguson, from the School of Public Health, Imperial College London, told Channel 4 this number is "not absurd".

He added: “I would much prefer to be accused of overreacting than under reacting.

“This virus is the one which probably concerns me the most out of everything I’ve worked on.”