A group of experts from the World Health Organization (WHO), studying the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, on Sunday, January 31, visited a market in the Chinese city of Wuhan. This was reported by AP.
The experts were spotted in sections of the Baishazhou Market, one of the largest distribution points for seafood in Wuhan. Chinese officials and local health officials accompanied WHO staff.
Experts in veterinary medicine, virology, food safety and epidemiology have already visited two hospitals that received the first patients with coronavirus, as well as a museum exhibition dedicated to the history of COVID-19.
WHO specialists arrived in Wuhan in mid-January to investigate the origin of the new type of coronavirus. They started work after going through a 14-day quarantine.
The WHO mission has taken on a political dimension as China seeks to avoid accusations of alleged mistakes in its efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus. WHO representatives will stay in China for two weeks.
At the end of 2019, the Chinese authorities informed WHO of an outbreak of unknown pneumonia in Wuhan, Hubei province. The causative agent of the disease was the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which causes the disease COVID-19.
Wuhan was closed for 76 days, quarantine was lifted from the city on April 8, 2020. In March, WHO declared a coronavirus pandemic.
According to the statistics bureau Worldometer, as of January 31, the number of confirmed cases of infection with the new coronavirus in the world is 103 million.