The risk-free upsides for China in the WHO’s coronavirus origin quest

Allowing investigators into the country gives Beijing the chance to project itself as a responsible international player, analysts say

With outbreaks of Covid-19 after months of no cases, Chinese authorities also ‘need to find a way to break the chain of transmission’

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After almost two months without a case, Beijing was confronted with an outbreak of Covid-19 linked to a massive food market. Photo: AFP

Published: 12:00pm, 11 Jul 2020Updated: 1:20pm, 11 Jul 2020

China’s decision to allow in a WHO-led coronavirus investigation could offer a risk-free boost to its reputation and help to find an answer to a big question – how the disease began.

That was the assessment of health specialists, who said the answers were needed to prevent future outbreaks.

Two World Health Organisation experts, an animal health specialist and an epidemiologist, are expected to arrive in Beijing this weekend to meet Chinese scientists and doctors to discuss the terms of a WHO-led mission to trace the origin of the coronavirus.

China agreed to the mission after a resolution passed unanimously in May at the World Health Assembly, the WHO’s governing body, calling for the WHO to work to identify the virus’ animal source. Countries like Australia and the United States had previously led a call for a broader investigation into China’s handling of the outbreak, which was first identified in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in December.

Sara Davies, an international relations professor specialising in global health governance at Griffith University in Australia, said China might have given approval because WHO officials were clear that the investigation was not about laying blame.

“This is a scientific investigation, and that is a deliberate attempt to establish a clear marker that this is not about fault. It’s not the type of investigation that Australia and others were proposing earlier this year,” Davies said.