Two members of the WTO team blocked access to China due to failed coronavirus antibody test

Two members of the WTO team blocked access to China due to failed coronavirus antibody test

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An international team of 13 scientists would land in the central Chinese city of Wuhan on Thursday, where cases of the coronavirus were first recorded. But two members of the team remain in Singapore, said the WHO in a series of tweets, after ‘testing positive for IgM antibodies’.
IgM antibodies are one of the earliest possible signs of a coronavirus infection, but can also occur in someone who has been vaccinated or previously infected (but is no longer a carrier) of the virus. False positives are also possible with such tests.

Since November 2020, travelers flying to China must show negative results for an IgM antibody test and a PCR test before being admitted.

The scientists involved are being tested and have been tested several times before and found negative for coronavirus, the organization said, adding that the scientists who were able to travel to China would immediately begin their work during the two-week quarantine protocol. for international travelers. ‘

Zhao Lijian, spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said at a regular press conference on Thursday that the country “will follow the appropriate regulations and requirements for the prevention of epidemics, and accordingly provide support and facilities for WTO experts who China is coming to international cooperation to trace the origin of the virus. “

When asked about the two scientists who refused access, Zhao declined to comment and instructed reports to ask ‘the relevant authorities’.

State broadcaster CGTN reported on Thursday that the WHO team was “undergoing both throat swabs and serum antibody tests at the airport” upon their arrival in the country.

Health workers stand next to buses at a cordoned-off section where incoming travelers are to be quarantined on 14 January 2021, at the international airport in Wuhan, China, following the arrival of a World Health Organization (WHO) team investigating the origin of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Delayed travel

This is the second delay for the WTO team, which was due to arrive in China earlier this month but was unable to fly there by authorities, which sparked a rare rebuke from the United Nations agency.

“I am very disappointed with this news,” said WHO Director – General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “I was in touch with senior Chinese officials and once again made it clear that the mission is a priority for the WHO and the international team.”

Tedros added that the WHO was “eager to get the mission started as soon as possible” and that he had been assured that Beijing would speed up the internal procedure for “the earliest possible deployment”.

This deployment began this week when the majority of the team arrived in Wuhan, although they will be limited to what they can do if they complete a mandatory two-week quarantine.

Marion Koopmans, a Dutch virologist who heads the Erasmus Medical Center’s science department in Rotterdam and is part of the investigation team on its way to China, said earlier this month that they were “ready to go.”

Koopmans said they were told there was nothing out of bounds in China, and said the team would work in collaboration with their Chinese colleagues “to look at the data, talk to people with expertise and decide what was done. and what can be there. built on. “

She said it was important to understand the origins of how the virus made the leap to humans, because there is’ no country that does not have the risk of developing diseases. It’s something we need to understand so that the whole world can prepare. ‘

“We really have to have patience and not judge. It’s meticulous work, it will take time,” Koopmans said.

Political tension

The United States and Australia have led the charge in criticizing China’s handling of the initial phases of the pandemic, accusing Beijing of underestimating the country’s seriousness and preventing an effective response.

Outgoing US President Donald Trump has repeatedly blamed China for the global pandemic, announcing that the US would end its relationship with the WHO, saying that China had not properly reported the information it had about the coronavirus and press the WHO to ‘deceive the world’.
The US has demanded transparency in WHO operations in China. In November, Garrett Grigsby told the US Department of Health and Human Services at the WTO meeting that the terms of the investigation into China “were not negotiated in a transparent manner” and “the investigation itself appears to be inconsistent” with his mandate.
A number of confidential documents obtained by CNN last year from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Hubei Province – where the virus was first detected in 2019 – have shown how Chinese officials give the world more optimistic data than they had internal access to, by initially reporting the case numbers in the early stages of the outbreak too little.
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As countries around the world struggle with new infections and outbreaks, China seems to be recovering. Last month, the country achieved positive economic growth for the second consecutive quarter.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi praised China’s anti-pandemic efforts at home and abroad, saying the country had ‘launched a vital global humanitarian campaign’ and ‘helped build consensus on a global response to Covid-19 ‘.

While the WTO team was ready to launch, Chinese officials and state media questioned the origin of the virus, while Wang himself claimed that more and more research indicated that the pandemic was probably caused by separate outbreaks in various parts of the world. .

CNN’s Beijing bureau reported.

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