I have been wondering why it is considered to have originated in Wuhan rather than Wuhan simply being the first major outbreak where it was identified as a novel coronavirus. Is it always the case that hospitals will be capable of identifying a new type of virus based on some patients who look like they have the flu?

One thing that's known about covid-19 is that it has an unusual spread pattern. In some circumstances it might not spread too much (eg. average R0 is well less than 10) but in other circumstances where air is recirculating a lot or a particular patient is very contagious, it seems to spread a lot more. Couple that with many people being asymptomatic. So, what if it had been spreading in many places but Wuhan was simply the first place where it was detected? It seems to be capable of spreading without being detected for quite a while in many other parts of the world. (eg. Singapore's foreign worker dormitories)