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GENEVA: The World Health Organization said on Thursday (December 17) that China had welcomed an international team of COVID-19 researchers who were expected to travel to the country in early January.
Babatunde Olowokure, WHO’s regional emergency director for the Western Pacific, told a news conference that the organization was in talks with Beijing about where the researchers would travel within the country.
“WHO continues to contact China and discuss the international team and the places they visit,” Olowokure said at the broadcast press conference. “We understand at this time that China is welcoming the international team and their visit … It is anticipated, as far as we know, to happen in early January,” he said.
On Wednesday, a WHO member and diplomats told Reuters that the WHO-led international mission was expected to go to China in the first week of January to investigate the origins of the virus that triggered the COVID-19 pandemic.
The United States, which has accused China of concealing the scope of the outbreak, has called for a “transparent” investigation led by the WHO and criticized its terms, which allowed Chinese scientists to conduct the first phase of the preliminary investigation.
Referring to the ongoing discussions with China during the trip, Olowokure said at the press conference: “Of course they are important to us and to have a general idea of how the investigation will develop.”
More than 72.92 million people have been reported to be infected with the new coronavirus worldwide and 1,641,733 have died, according to a Reuters tally.
Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019.
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