Coronavirus: China ‘ready and open’ for WHO team visit to Wuhan in origin quest
- Top Chinese health official says terms have been agreed but the start date is still being determined
- Comments come after WHO chief voices frustration at Beijing over travel dates
Zeng Yixin, deputy director of the National Health Commission, said China and the World Health Organisation had agreed on terms of the research but the specific time of arrival was still being determined.
“We enthusiastically support the expert group from the WHO to conduct an investigation into the source of [the coronavirus],” Zeng said.
“We have had four video meetings and conducted full and scientific discussions with the group during each meeting. We had candid consultations on specific arrangements for the process, focus, details and procedures of the investigation and reached agreement.”
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Two members had already started their journeys but could not complete them. Others were not able to travel at the last minute because they were yet to be granted a visa, WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying played down the delay, saying there might be a misunderstanding and Beijing was still in discussions with the WHO on the specific dates.
Zeng said Chinese specialists in epidemiology, virology, public health and clinical medicine would work with the WHO team and were waiting for confirmation of the start date.
“We are ready here. As long as these experts complete the procedures and confirm the schedule, we will go to Wuhan together to carry out the investigation,” he said.
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Scientists have suggested that the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 came from bats and spread to an unknown animal before spreading to humans, a process called spillover. It is important to retrace the steps to find out how the process happened to prepare for future viral spillovers.
But the quest has come amid international calls to investigate China’s initial handling of the outbreak in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.
US President Donald Trump went one step further last year, making unsubstantiated claims that a laboratory in Wuhan was the source of the virus.
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In recent weeks, China has floated the idea that while Wuhan might be where the first infections were detected, the source might have been elsewhere, given that some outbreaks in port cities were believed to be caused by imported frozen goods.
Zeng said China had pursued the various avenues on the origin of the virus and hoped the research with the WHO would improve understanding of the pathogen.
