BEIJING (AP) – World Health Organization experts are due to arrive in China this week to do a long-awaited investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, the government said on Monday.
The experts will arrive on Thursday and meet with their Chinese counterparts, the National Health Commission said in a statement in a sentence that gave no further details.
It was not immediately known whether experts would travel to the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the coronavirus was first detected in late 2019.
Negotiations for the visit have been underway for some time. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed his disappointment last week over the delays, saying members of the international scientific team leaving their home countries had already begun their journey as apart from an agreement between the WHO and the Chinese government.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said China had approved the visit after consultations between the parties and considered it an opportunity to “exchange views with Chinese scientists and medical experts on scientific cooperation on the tracing of the origin of the new coronavirus “.
“Along with the continuous changes in the epidemic situation, our knowledge of the virus deepens and earlier cases are discovered,” Zhao told reporters in a daily briefing, adding that the search for the source will likely involve “various countries and localities”.
The Chinese government has strictly controlled all research conducted at home on the origins of the virus, according to an investigation by the Associated Press, while the state media has reproduced marginal theories suggesting that the virus may have originated elsewhere.
The PA investigation found that the Chinese government is handing out hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants to scientists investigating the origins of the virus in southern China. But it is overseeing its findings and demanding that the publication of any data or research be approved by a new working group managed by the Chinese cabinet, under direct orders from President Xi Jinping, according to internal documents obtained by the PA.
The culture of secrecy is believed to have delayed warnings about the pandemic, blocked the exchange of information with the WHO and hampered early tests. Australia and other countries have called for an investigation into the origins of the virus, prompting angry responses from Beijing.
There were no immediate WHO comments on Monday’s announcement, but UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric had already told reporters at the United Nations headquarters in New York that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “is totally in favor of the efforts of Dr. Tedros and the WHO to get a team there. “
“It is very important that, as the WHO is at the forefront of the fight against the pandemic, it also plays a leading role in trying to look back at the roots of this pandemic so that we can be better prepared for the next one,” Dujarric said. “We look forward” to reports from China commenting that it is working with the WHO and seeking a smooth visit “will happen”.
The origins of the virus have been the source of intense speculation, focusing on the likelihood that bats would carry it and pass it on to humans through an intermediate species that was sold as food or medicine in traditional Chinese wet markets.
China has largely halted new cases of domestic transmission, but said Monday that dozens of people have tested positive for coronavirus in Hebei province, on the border with Beijing.
This outbreak comes amid measures to curb the spread of the virus during next month’s lunar New Year holidays. Authorities have asked citizens not to travel, ordered the closure of schools a week earlier and conducted massive tests.
China has recorded a total of 87,536 cases of the virus, including 4,634 deaths. Currently, hospitals are treating 673 people for COVID-19, while another 506 are isolated and under observation after testing positive without showing symptoms.
The Hebei outbreak has raised special concerns about the province’s proximity to Beijing. Some parts of the province are closed and interprovincial travel has been cut short to a large extent, and those entering Beijing to work must demonstrate employment and a clean state of health.
Beijing has also seen a handful of new cases, prompting authorities to close some suburban communities and force residents to show negative test results to access grocery stores and other public spaces.