A British man who is believed to be among the first people in the world to catch coronavirus has revealed he fell sick in November last year - weeks before the first official case was logged.

Connor Reed, a 25-year-old teacher from Wales who was living in Wuhan when the outbreak began, explained how he fell sick with symptoms similar to a common cold in 'late November'.

Doctors in Wuhan did not report the first cluster of coronavirus infections - which they identified at the time as 'pneumonia from an unknown origin' - until December 30, and said the first patient fell sick on December 1.

Connor Reed, 25, has revealed that he fell sick with coronavirus in November last year - weeks before the first cases of the disease were reported

Mr Reed said he initially did not go to hospital because he believed he was only suffering from a cold, but sought medical attention when it developed into flu and then pneumonia

Mr Reed told This Morning that he initially did not go to hospital, but sought medical attention when his symptoms worsened - first to flu and then pneumonia.

Asked whether he thinks the government tried to cover up the initial outbreak, he speculated that local hospitals did not accurately report cases.

'I believe that on a regional level and a local level definitely there were some hospitals covering it up,' he said.

'But the Chinese Community Party as a whole on national level, they’ve learned their lessons from the SARS outbreak and they’re not covering it up.

'The numbers they are releasing are accurate.'

Scientists believe the global outbreak of coronavirus can be linked to a market in Wuhan that sold wild animals, but have so far been unable to say precisely how the virus ended up in humans.

They have also been unable to trace 'patient zero' - the first human to catch the disease - or say precisely when they were infected.

Researchers have discovered that the virus has an 'incubation period' of up to 14 days between infection and patients first showing symptoms which has complicated efforts to trace its origin.

Mr Reed, from Llandudno, said he was prescribed an inhaler which he used to help his cough, and antibiotics which he refused to take.

Mr Reed was only told that he had contracted coronavirus in January this year - until then it was classed as 'pneumonia from an unknown cause'

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Instead, he drank hot toddies - a mixture of hot whiskey and honey - until he was feeling better.

It was not until January that he was told he had contracted coronavirus.

‘I was sick, I got over it and that’s the way I look at it,' he said.

UK CORONAVIRUS CASES SPIKE Fears for scores of cancer patients at an NHS hospital in Hertfordshire were sparked today after a clinician was revealed as one of the 13 latest coronavirus cases in the UK. More than a dozen patients at Mount Vernon Cancer Centre in Northwood are being tested for the killer virus and at least 10 staff members have been forced to self-isolate to hear if they are infected, MailOnline understands. It comes as a secondary school in London became the third school in as many days to close its doors after another teacher was diagnosed with the virus on Sunday. In a letter to parents, Wimbledon College said it would remain shut until March 10 because so many of its staff are self-isolating after coming into contact with the infected teacher. St Mary's Church of England Primary School in Gloucestershire and Willow Bank Infant School in Berkshire will also remain shut until Wednesday while they are deep cleaned after two teachers tested positive over the weekend. The number of people infected with the deadly virus jumped from 23 to 36 on Sunday, marking the biggest rise in a single day after 12 new cases were recorded in England and Scotland announced its first patient. Prime Minister Boris Johnson chaired an emergency Cobra meeting in Whitehall this morning where officials thrashed out a 'battle plan' to tackle the virus, which he admitted poses a 'significant threat'. Advertisement

Describing the current situation in Wuhan, where cases have been steadily falling, he said the city remains in lockdown with people confined to their homes.

'We’re all under quarantine still. All the shops are closed no private citizen can purchase anything from shops,' he said.

'Everything’s done by group buying with your community. Each community has a community manager.

'They purchase things for you, it gets delivered to your gate and you pick it up from there. It is quite scary because normally the streets are bustling

‘It’s normally a very jovial place but at the moment it’s very dead

Globally, almost 90,000 people have been confirmed as having coronavirus infections with more than 3,000 deaths.

While most of those are still confined within mainland China, outbreaks have been confirmed in South Korea, Italy, Iran and Japan.

There are also signs the disease is spreading freely within the US and UK after both countries reported cases in people who had not travelled overseas.

Heath authorities in the US have also reported shortages of kits used to test for the disease, meaning their ability to accurately report infections is compromised.

Fears have also been raised over whether Iran is accurately reporting cases.

The World Heath Organisation has warned that there is roughly a 40 per cent chance of the disease turning into a global pandemic - while telling leaders that they are 'not prepared' to deal with the issue.

Dr Mike Ryan, who heads up the WHO's emergency response team, said: 'Countries are not simply not ready...health systems around the world are clearly not ready.'

'We need to slow [coronavirus] down so that countries can cope.'

South Korean soldiers spray disinfectant in Daegu, a city at the centre of a coronavirus outbreak that has sickened more than 4,000 in that country alone