Covid 19 coronavirus: WHO researchers denied access to Wuhan by Chinese officials

Researchers from the World Health Organization (WHO) have been denied access to Wuhan, the city believed to be where the coronavirus originated in late 2019, by Chinese authorities, as another area of ​​the Hubei province enters “wartime” mode for a new outbreak.

Beijing is reportedly avoiding the independent investigation by the WHO, which is expected to take between four and five weeks, in an attempt to evade being held responsible for the Covid-19 pandemic, which has killed more than 1.8 million people in all the world.

Despite a 10-person team member telling the BBC that the investigation is not about finding a “guilty country” but about understanding how similar pandemics could be avoided, Chinese officials have yet to finalize the permit for their arrivals.

“Today we learned that Chinese officials have not yet finalized the necessary permits for the arrival of the team to China,” WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters yesterday at a press conference in Geneva.

“I am very disappointed with this news, since two members had already started their travels and others were unable to travel at the last minute.

“I have been in contact with senior Chinese officials and have once again made it clear that the mission is a priority for WHO and the international team.”

ANOTHER SPROUT

The investigation comes as China’s Hubei province plunged into “wartime” mode to combat an outbreak of 59 cases in the past three days, believed to be related to meetings.

Authorities have launched massive tests for the city’s 11 million residents and schools have been closed, and the infections are believed to be due to social events such as funerals and weddings in Xiaguozhuang village.

The village has now been isolated, and meetings or visits between relatives are now prohibited. Police have also reportedly barricaded routes outside the county.

Peking University First Hospital respiration expert Wang Guangfu told the Global Times that the possibility of an asymptomatic spreader “could not be ruled out.”

Feng Zijian, a China CDC expert, told the publication that the source of the infection is likely from Europe.

WHO INVESTIGATION DENIED

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was “assured that China is accelerating internal procedures for the earliest possible deployment,” said WHO’s Dr Michael Ryan, who had not yet been granted the visa authorization.

One official was sent home and the other will remain in a third country until allowed entry.

“We are confident and hope that this is just a logistical and bureaucratic problem (and) will be resolved quickly,” Ryan said.

“This is frustrating and, as the CEO has said, disappointing. We are confident in good faith that we will be able to resolve these issues in the next few hours and re-deploy the team as urgently as possible.”

China has repeatedly brushed aside rhetoric from leaders like US President Donald Trump that they are to blame for the pandemic.

Just a few days ago, the Global Times ran a story about Wuhan hosting “more gatherings, celebrations” in the new year and telling “the West” to “get used to it.”

“More large gatherings such as New Year celebrations, sporting events and live concerts will be held in Wuhan, which was the city most affected by Covid-19 in China, during 2021, and the world better get used to it, residents from Wuhan. said, calling on some Westerners to save their compatriots after Chinese experiences rather than attack Wuhan meetings with prejudice and hostility, “the article reads.

“When large crowds of Wuhan residents took to the streets and launched balloons to celebrate the arrival of 2021 on New Year’s Eve, in stark contrast to what Western media called a ghost town like Times Square with roads closed but no audience in alive, some westerners with jealous eyes were sarcastic about Wuhan. “