China ready for experts, but no timeline yet
BEIJING: China is ready to receive a WHO expert team to probe the origin of Covid-19 and has reached a consensus with the UN’S top health agency, a senior Chinese official said on Saturday, but gave no specific timeline for the visit.
The exact time on when the WHO expert team will arrive in Wuhan, where the virus emerged in December last, and investigate into the coronavirus origin is still under negotiation, Zeng Yixin, deputy head of the National Health Commission, told a press conference.
China and the World Health Organisation have reached a consensus on specific arrangements of the investigation with four video conferences, Zeng was quoted as saying by staterun Global Times.
Chinese experts are waiting for their WHO counterparts, he said.
Once the WHO experts complete their procedures and finalise the schedule, Chinese experts will go to Wuhan with them to conduct the investigation, Zeng was quoted as saying by the state-run Xinhua news agency.
Zeng stressed that China’s position on the WHO investigation is positive, open and supportive, and the country hopes such joint efforts would help deepen the understanding of the virus and better prevent infectious diseases in the future.
In a rare instance of criticism from the global body, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who is often accused of being pro-china, in a media conference in Geneva on Tuesday had expressed disappointment over China not finalising the necessary permissions for the experts team’s arrival.
“I’m very disappointed with this news, given that two members had already begun their journeys and others were not able to travel at the last minute, but had been in contact with senior Chinese officials,” he said.
Tedros said he “made it clear” that the mission was a priority for the UN health agency and it was “eager to get the mission underway as soon as possible”.
The delay by China to finalise