Experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) have arrived in the Chinese city of Wuhan to begin investigating the causes of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Recall that the Chinese authorities have repeatedly postponed the visit of the WHO group, which includes specialists from Japan, Qatar, Germany, Vietnam, Russia, Australia, Denmark, the Netherlands, Great Britain and the United States. The long-awaited visit was preceded by months of negotiations between the WHO and official Beijing. In early January, after receiving another refusal, the WHO unexpectedly for the first time, albeit mildly, but allowed itself to criticize the Chinese authorities, after which a permit for the visit was issued, and on January 14 the experts arrived in China. Scientists are set to interview staff at a Wuhan laboratory, doctors and market workers in Wuhan, which was originally identified as the site of the virus. Samples and evidence will be presented by Chinese officials, who now insist on a different origin for SARS-CoV-2 – it allegedly originated in a completely different country. Despite the lack of any reliable evidence, it has been reported in the Chinese press for months that the virus was in Spain, Italy, or perhaps the United States before spreading widely in China. In addition, the Chinese media actively assert the transmission of COVID-19 through the import of frozen food, stating that it was through the cargo shipments that the virus was “brought” into the country, although the WHO does not confirm such a high risk of infection.
Recall that on January 15, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo disclosed previously unreported intelligence that laboratory workers in Wuhan fell ill in the fall of 2019 with symptoms consistent with COVID-19. They are reported to have been working with the bat coronavirus, which is 96.2% genetically similar to the virus that causes COVID-19 since 2016. Pompeo does not believe the virus was deliberately engineered or released, but it is possible that he accidentally “escaped” from the laboratory due to lack of proper control. “Beijing continues to withhold vital information scientists need to protect the world from this and the next deadly virus today,” Pompeo said.
Last week, a study by the China Center for Disease Control found that blood samples from 4.43% of Wuhan’s population contained antibodies to COVID-19, indicating that infection rates in the city are much higher than originally stated.
More and more international experts agree that the WHO research team is unlikely to be allowed to thoroughly study all the materials, as Beijing is desperately trying to avoid accusations of the virus that has killed more than 1.97 million people worldwide. Team Leader Peter Ben Embarek told AFP shortly before the trip that “it can take a very long journey before we get a full picture of what happened. I don’t think we will have clear answers after this initial mission. ” Experts from Australia added: “We do not think that all information about viruses in the laboratory will be available, and therefore it is not a fact that we will ever know the truth about what actually happened.”
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WHO experts arrive in China