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Experts from the World Health Organization arrived in Wuhan to investigate the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, Chinese state media confirmed.
The team of 10 virologists and other scientists will spend about a month in the Chinese city where COVID-19 it first emerged more than a year ago.
After spending the first two weeks in quarantine, the WHO team will investigate claims by scientists that the virus jumped from animals to humans elsewhere in China before the first cases were detected in the Huanan wet market in Wuhan.
It comes after the team, which comes from the UK, the US, Australia, Germany, Japan, Russia, the Netherlands, Qatar and Vietnam, out stopped from entering the country earlier this month.
Wuhan, China, on the morning WHO officials arrive in the city
Some of the experts had already left their home countries and were on their way when China said they would not be allowed to enter due to incomplete controls.
The WHO had been in talks with China since July, but was denied entry on January 6.
Managing Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at the time: “Today we learned that Chinese officials have not yet finalized the necessary permits for the team’s arrival in China.
“I am very disappointed with this news, as two members had already started their travels and others were unable to travel at the last minute, but had been in contact with senior Chinese officials.”
The Chinese government has reportedly been tightly monitoring all investigations into the origins of the virus, and state media have made claims that it could have originated elsewhere.
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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said recently that “a growing body of research suggests that the pandemic is likely caused by separate outbreaks in various parts of the world.”
Meanwhile, coronavirus Cases are on the rise again in China, with officials reporting their first virus-related death in months.
According to the National Health Commission, 43 new cases have been registered in Heilongjiang province, most concentrated near the capital city of Harbin.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus criticized China for denying entry to the team
There have been 81 more infections in Hebei province, near Beijing, and 14 outside of China.
This made Thursday the second day in a row that the national infection count rose to triple digits.
More than 20 million people are being held in Hebei, Beijing and beyond in hopes of stopping the spread before the Chinese New Year.
Officials urge people not to travel, with some routes suspended and schools ending a week earlier to reduce the chances of infection.
