WHO: China Blocked Our Team From Wuhan

But Beijing rep says arrangements are still being made
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 6, 2021 8:39 AM CST
WHO Faults China for Delay in Coronavirus Investigation
In this March 9, 2020 file photo, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization speaks during a news conference, at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.   (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP, file)

A team tasked with tracing the origins of the coronavirus in Wuhan has been denied entry into China, according to the World Health Organization. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Tuesday he was "very disappointed" that visa clearances had not been issued as "two members had already begun their journeys and others were not able to travel at the last minute." CNN reports one team member has already returned home, while "the other was waiting in transit in a third country." But China seems to place the blame on the WHO, saying details of the visit, the result of months of negotiations, have not yet been worked out. "There might be some misunderstanding," Hua Chunying, a rep for China's Foreign Ministry, tells the BBC. But "as far as I know with dates and arrangements we are still in discussions."

Ghebreyesus said he informed senior Chinese officials "that the mission is a priority" and "I have been assured that China is speeding up the internal procedure for the earliest possible deployment." Hua says internal preparations are underway, while stressing that China has already welcomed WHO experts into the country. The WHO previously said a 10-member team would descend on China in January to investigate how the coronavirus apparently jumped from animals to humans, perhaps at a live animal market. One team member, Dutch virologist Marion Koopmans, says they'll be "looking at the data, talking to people with expertise, and concluding from what's been done, and what can be built on," per CNN. The plan is for the team to work with Chinese colleagues. "We really need to have patience and not judge," adds Koopmans. "It will take time." (More China stories.)

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