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A team of scientists led by the World Health Organization (WHO) arrived (Thursday) in Wuhan, in central China, to investigate the origin of the emerging coronavirus that caused a global pandemic.
The virus first appeared in Wuhan in late 2019 and then spread across the world.
The team arrived in the morning from Singapore and is expected to be subject to a two-week quarantine.
The team was due to arrive earlier this month, but China postponed the visit, prompting the Director-General of the World Health Organization to issue rare public criticism of Beijing. The team did not speak to reporters.
The team’s visit comes as China faces a surge in coronavirus cases in the northeast of the country, after it has managed to control local infections for months.
A WHO spokesman said Peter Ben Embrick, the WHO’s leading expert on animal diseases transmitted to other species, who made a preliminary visit to China in July, led the team of 10 independent experts.
Hong Nguyen, a Vietnamese biologist and one of the team members, told Reuters that he did not expect any restrictions from China on the group’s work, but cautioned that the team might not get clear results.
He added that after the quarantine is over, the team will spend two weeks, during which they will interview workers from research institutes, hospitals and the Wuhan seafood market, which is believed to be the source of the virus.
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