WUHAN, China (AP) – A global team of researchers arrived in the Chinese city on Thursday where the coronavirus pandemic was first detected to conduct a politically sensitive investigation into its origins amid uncertainty over whether Beijing could try. avoid embarrassing discoveries.
The ten-member team sent to Wuhan by the World Health Organization was approved by the government of President Xi Jinping after months of diplomatic disputes that sparked an unusual public complaint from the WHO chief.
Scientists suspect the virus that has killed 1.9 million people since late 2019 jumped to humans from bats or other animals, probably in southwest China. The ruling Communist Party, fueled by complaints that allowed the disease to spread, says the virus comes from abroad, possibly in imported seafood, but scientists reject it.
CGTN, the English language channel of the state broadcaster CCTV, reported the arrival of the WHO team. Members include viruses and other experts from the United States, Australia, Germany, Japan, Britain, Russia, the Netherlands, Qatar, and Vietnam.
A government spokesman said this week that they would “exchange views” with Chinese scientists, but gave no indication as to whether they would be allowed to gather evidence.
According to a publication from CGTN’s official Weibo account, they will undergo a forty-two-week, throat swab test and antibody test against COVID-19. They should start working with Chinese experts via video conferencing while in quarantine.
China rejected demands for international investigation after the Trump administration accused Beijing of spreading the virus, which plunged the world economy into its deepest fall since the 1930s.
After Australia called for an independent investigation in April, Beijing retaliated by blocking imports of beef, wine and other Australian products.
One possibility is that a wildlife thief passed the virus to traders who took him to Wuhan, a member of the WHO team, zoologist Peter Daszak of the American group EcoHealth told the Associated Press Alliance.
A single visit by scientists is unlikely to confirm the origins of the virus; determining the deposition of animals from an outbreak is usually a thorough effort that requires years of research, including animal sampling, genetic analysis, and epidemiological studies.
“The government should be very transparent and collaborative,” said Shin-Ru Shih, director of the Emerging Viral Infection Research Center at Chang Gung University in Taiwan.
The Chinese government has tried to cause confusion about the origin of the virus. He has promoted theories, with little evidence, that the outbreak could have started with imports of contaminated seafood, a notion rejected by scientists and international agencies.
“WHO will have to conduct similar investigations elsewhere,” a National Health Commission official Mi Feng said on Wednesday.
Some of the WHO team were heading to China a week ago, but had to go back after Beijing announced they had not received valid visas.
It could have been a “bureaucratic jungle,” but the incident “raises the question of whether Chinese authorities were trying to interfere,” said Adam Kamradt-Scott, a health expert at the University of Sydney.
One possible approach by researchers is the Wuhan Institute of Virology in the city where the outbreak began. One of China’s leading virus research labs, it built a genetic information archive on bat coronavirus after the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome in 2003.
According to the agenda published by the WHO for research into its origins, there are no plans to assess whether an accidental release of the coronavirus could have occurred in the Wuhan laboratory, as some American politicians, including President Donald Trump, have claimed.
A “scientific audit” of the Institute’s records and security measures would be a “routine activity,” said Mark Woolhouse, an epidemiologist at the University of Edinburgh. He said it depends on the willingness of the Chinese authorities to share information.
“There’s a big element of trust here,” Woolhouse said.
An AP investigation he found that the government imposed controls on the investigation of the outbreak and banned scientists from talking to journalists.
The exact origin of the coronavirus may never be traced because viruses change quickly, Woolhouse said.
While it may be difficult to find exactly the same COVID-19 virus in animals as in humans, discovering closely related viruses can help explain how the disease first jumped from animals and clarify what preventive measures are needed to prevent future epidemics.
Scientists should focus instead on making a “complete picture” of the virus to help respond to future outbreaks, Woolhouse said.
“Now is not the time to blame anyone,” Shih said. “We shouldn’t say, it’s your fault.”
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Wu reported from Taipei, Taiwan.