A World Health Organization team has begun investigating the origin of the coronavirus in China, despite concerns that the government in Beijing is trying to prevent any embarrassment.
Thirteen scientists arrived in Wuhan, China, on Thursday after months of talks with President Xi Jinping’s government.
The team includes virologists and other experts from the United States, Australia, Germany, Japan, Britain, Russia, the Netherlands, Qatar and Vietnam.
A worker in protective cover guides members of the World Health Organization team on their arrival at Wuhan Airport in Hubei Province, China, on Thursday, January 14, 2021. A worldwide team of researchers arrived in the Chinese city on Thursday where the coronavirus pandemic was first spotted to conduct a politically sensitive investigation into its origins amid uncertainty over whether Beijing might be trying to detect embarrassment. (AP Photo / Ng Han Guan)
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The team will follow a two-week quarantine per protocol, but team members will begin working via a video conference with Chinese experts. Two members of the initial team had to stay in Singapore after testing positive for COVID-19, but they will follow as soon as they are negative.
A possible focal point for investigators is the Wuhan Institute of Virology in the city where the outbreak appeared at the end of 2019. One of China’s leading virus research laboratories has built up an archive of genetic information on coronavirus from bats after the 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome. (SAID).
The investigation begins after months of discussions and further bureaucratic obstacles when China announces that some members of the team have not received valid visas.
Passengers arriving on a flight from Singapore will be processed by protective clothing staff on Thursday, January 14, 2021, and taken to a covered driveway to a separate exit from the airport terminal in Wuhan in Hubei province in central China. THE WHO team arrived in Wuhan on Thursday to investigate the origin of the coronavirus. (AP Photo / Ng Han Guan)
“The government needs to be very transparent and cooperate,” said Shin-Ru Shih, director of the Emerging Viral Infection Research Center at Chang Gung University in Taiwan.
Beijing has long resisted the demands for an international investigation, but rather places theories that the virus entered China from abroad.
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Members of the World Health Organization team arrive at Wuhan Airport in central Hubei Province, China on Thursday, January 14, 2021. A worldwide team of researchers arrived in the Chinese city on Thursday where the coronavirus pandemic was first detected to engage in politically sensitive behavior. investigating its origins amid uncertainty over whether Beijing might be trying to prevent embarrassment from discoveries. (AP Photo / Ng Han Guan)
When Australia called for an independent inquiry into the origin of the virus, Beijing retaliated by blocking imports of Australian goods.
“The WHO will have to conduct similar investigations elsewhere,” National Health Commission official Mi Feng said on Wednesday.
Attempts to accurately protect information about the virus and its origins may have led to delayed warnings about the pandemic and problems with the establishment of early testing capabilities.
A “scientific audit” of Institute records and security measures would be a “routine activity,” said Mark Woolhouse, an epidemiologist at the University of Edinburgh, who said it depended on the Chinese authorities’ willingness to to share information.
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“Here’s a big element of trust,” Woolhouse said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.