WHO team arrives in Wuhan to investigate pandemic origins
A global team of researchers arrived on Thursday in the Chinese city where Covid-19 was first detected to conduct a politically sensitive investigation into the origins of the pandemic.
Their arrival in Wuhan came amid uncertainty about whether Beijing might try to prevent embarrassing discoveries and as the country experienced a new surge in coronavirus cases and reported its first Covid-related death in months.
The latest death raises the toll to 4,635 among 87,844 cases, and China’s relatively low case figures are a testimony to the effectiveness of strict containment, tracing and quarantine measures.
However, the figures have also raised questions about the tight hold the government maintains on all information related to the outbreak.
The 10-member team sent to Wuhan by the World Health Organisation was approved by President Xi Jinping’s government after months of diplomatic wrangling that prompted an unusual public complaint by the head of the WHO.
Scientists suspect the virus that has killed 1.9 million people since late 2019 jumped to humans from bats or other animals, most likely in China’s southwest.
The ruling Communist Party, stung by complaints it allowed the disease to spread, says the virus came from abroad, possibly on imported seafood, but scientists reject that.
The team arrived at Wuhan airport and walked through a makeshift clear plastic tunnel into the airport.
The researchers, who only wore face masks, were greeted by airport staff in full protective gear, complete with mask, goggles and full body suits.
The team members include virus and other experts from the United States, Australia, Germany, Japan, Britain, Russia, the Netherlands, Qatar and Vietnam.
A government spokesman said this week they will “exchange views” with Chinese scientists but gave no indication about whether they would be allowed to gather evidence.
They will undergo a two-week quarantine as well as a throat swab test and an antibody test for Covid-19, according to CGTN, the English-language channel of state broadcaster CCTV.
China rejected demands for an international investigation after the Trump administration in the US blamed Beijing for the virus’s spread, which plunged the global economy into its deepest slump since the 1930s.
After Australia called in April for an independent inquiry, Beijing retaliated by blocking imports of Australian beef, wine and other goods.
One possibility is that a wildlife poacher might have passed the virus to traders who carried it to Wuhan, one of the WHO team members, zoologist Peter Daszak of the US group EcoHealth Alliance, told the Associated Press in November.
A single visit by scientists is unlikely to confirm the virus’s origins; pinning down an outbreak’s animal reservoir is typically an exhaustive endeavour that takes years of research including taking animal samples, genetic analysis and epidemiological studies.
The Chinese government has tried to stir confusion about the virus’s origin. It has promoted theories, with little evidence, that the outbreak might have started with imports of tainted seafood, a notion rejected by international scientists and agencies.
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