Coronavirus: WHO investigators visit provincial disease control centre in Wuhan

Name: WHO officials inspect seafood market at epicentre of the original coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan
Uploaded: 2021-02-01T08:08:09.000Z
Duration: 2 min 25 s
Description: WHO officials inspect seafood market at epicentre of the original coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan

Team member says afterwards it was a ‘really good meeting, really important’

Experts arrived in the city last month to look into the origins of the pandemic

Reading Time:2 minutes

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Members of the WHO team prepare to leave their hotel for a fourth day of field visits in Wuhan on Monday. Photo: AP

Associated Press

Published: 4:08pm, 1 Feb 2021Updated: 4:38pm, 1 Feb 2021

A World Health Organization team investigating the origins of the coronavirus pandemic has visited a provincial disease control centre that had an early hand in managing the outbreak.

The WHO investigators arrived in the Hubei provincial capital, Wuhan, last month to look for clues and have visited hospitals that treated many of the earliest patients and a seafood market where cases of infection with the then-unknown virus emerged in December 2019.

The team’s visit to the Hubei Centre for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday came amid tight Chinese controls on access to information about the virus. China has sought to avoid blame for alleged missteps in its early response to the outbreak, while promoting alternative theories that the virus originated elsewhere and may have even been brought to Wuhan from outside the country.

Following the visit, a member of the team, Peter Daszak, told reporters it had been a “really good meeting, really important”. No other details were given.

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WHO officials inspect seafood market at epicentre of the original coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan

The evidence the team assembles will add to what is expected to be a years-long quest for answers. Pinning down an outbreak’s animal reservoir requires massive amounts of research including taking animal samples, genetic analysis and epidemiological studies.

Coronavirus: WHO investigators visit provincial disease control centre in Wuhan

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} Team member says afterwards it was a ‘really good meeting, really important’ Experts arrived in the city last month to look into the origins of the pandemic

Team member says afterwards it was a ‘really good meeting, really important’

Experts arrived in the city last month to look into the origins of the pandemic