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WUHAN: A World Health Organization (WHO) team investigating the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic on Sunday (January 31) visited a market known to be the food distribution center of the Chinese city of Wuhan during the 76-day shutdown last year. .
The team members were seen walking through sections of Baishazhou Market, one of Wuhan’s largest wet markets, surrounded by a large entourage of Chinese officials and representatives.
The members, experienced in veterinary medicine, virology, food safety and epidemiology, have so far visited two hospitals in the center of the early outbreak: Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital and Hubei Western and Integrated Chinese Medicine Hospital.
Ken Maeda (center) of the World Health Organization team prepares to leave for a third day of field visits in Wuhan on January 31, 2021 (Photo: AP / Ng Han Guan).
On Saturday, they also visited a museum exhibit dedicated to the early history of COVID-19.
The Geneva-based WHO said on Twitter last Thursday that the team plans to visit hospitals and markets such as the Huanan Seafood Market, which was linked to many of the early cases. They also listed the Wuhan Institute of Virology and laboratories in facilities that include the Wuhan Center for Disease Control.
READ: White House demands ‘robust’ international investigation into COVID-19 origins
The mission has become politically charged, as China seeks to avoid blame for alleged missteps in its early response to the outbreak.
A single visit by scientists is unlikely to confirm the origin of the virus. Determining the animal reservoir for an outbreak is often a comprehensive endeavor that requires years of research, including animal sampling, genetic testing, and epidemiological studies.
Plainclothes security personnel use their umbrellas to prevent journalists from filming after the World Health Organization team arrives at the Baishazhou wholesale market on January 31, 2021 (Photo: AP / Ng Han Guan) .
One possibility is that a wildlife poacher passed the virus to the traders who brought it to Wuhan. The Chinese government has promoted theories, with little evidence, that the outbreak could have started with imports of frozen seafood contaminated with the virus, a notion that scientists and international agencies roundly rejected.
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