An investigating team led by World Health Organization has reached China to examine the origins of Covid-19 and the virtual meetings with their Chinese hosts from a hotel in China’s Wuhan, where the pandemic first emerged are to begin on Friday.
On Thursday their arrival at the city in central China was interrupted by the absence of two members who failed coronavirus antibody tests in Singapore.
While according to China’s foreign ministry, one of the missing members has passed a test and their travel to China is being arranged.
“Team now undergoing the mandatory 14 days quarantine & being treated very well by our hosts. Work begins today, day 1, in teleconf. mtgs w/ China team,” tweeted team member Peter Daszak, a zoologist.
Finally here in Wuhan! Team now undergoing the mandatory 14 days quarantine & being treated very well by our hosts. Work begins today, day 1, in teleconf. mtgs w/ China team. https://t.co/gi7Mjr1iBf
— Peter Daszak (@PeterDaszak) January 15, 2021
On Friday, at the driveway and parking lot of the boutique hotel where the team of WHO is staying barred with tape and the security personnel stood guard at the entrance.
As China is on alert over a resurgence of Covid-19 infections in its northeast is the reason why the team arrived in Wuhan.
However, the United States has always accused China of hiding the extent of its initial outbreak a year ago, and has called for a “transparent” WHO-led investigation and criticised the terms of the visit, under which the Chinese experts have done the first phase of research.
Dominic Dwyer, an Australian virologist on the team, said he and the other scientists were trying to keep the politics aside surrounding the trip.
“There’s always politics with this sort of scenario but one of the things that Covid-19 has shown us is if you have good science, you then inform the politics,” he said.
“You want to fill the scientific vacuum with the answers so that people can make more informed and, therefore, presumably more sensible decisions.”
Dwyer said, hoped to visit the visit research institutes, hospitals and the market where the first human cases of the disease were detected in late 2019 and the schedule for the rest of the trip was still to be sorted.
“Getting an understanding of how they (markets) work physically by seeing them is helpful because one’s trying to work out how viruses might have come into the market from outside…and spread within the market, or parts of the market, and then spread to the community,” he said.
All the meetings will be fixed virtually and the team are not allowed to mingle while in quarantine.
“It’s in the room for two weeks,” said Dwyer. “The rooms are a good size and they’ve given everyone exercise equipment and meals are delivered,” adding he had some weights, a skipping rope and a yoga mat.
Foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a news briefing in Beijing on Friday that, a UK national, one of the two missing members of the team, will be allowed to travel to China after re-testing negative in an antibody test.
The other member, who is Sudanese, is still testing positive for antibodies, he said.
“We will remain in contact with the WHO on these matters,” said Zhao.
However, 15 members of the team tested negative for the disease before leaving their home countries and has underwent further testing while in transit in Singapore.
