WHO scientists arrive in Wuhan to investigate coronavirus origin
A team of international scientists sent by the World Health Organisation to investigate the origins of coronavirus has landed in Wuhan, though two have been delayed after failing to pass Beijing’s health-screening requirements.
The two were barred by Chinese officials from boarding a flight to Wuhan after testing positive for antibodies during a layover in Singapore, where they have had to remain to be retested.
Antibodies can be detected after infection, but can also develop within a week of the onset of symptoms.
However, the WHO said that all the experts on the trip had received multiple negative results from nucleic acid and antibody tests in their home countries prior to travelling.
The 13 scientists who arrived have begun a two-week quarantine, during which they expect to hold video meetings with their Chinese counterparts.
After undergoing additional Covid-19 tests, they will spend two weeks interviewing people from research institutes, hospitals and the seafood market in Wuhan, where the initial infections were discovered.
The delay in getting all the scientists to China is the latest glitch to plague a politically sensitive mission that has already suffered several setbacks and took months to negotiate with Beijing.
China had rejected demands for an international investigation and even blocked imports of Australian goods after it led the push for an independent inquiry into origins of the virus.
Beijing’s propaganda campaign to claim the coronavirus existed abroad before it was discovered in Wuhan – aimed at deflecting global anger over its pandemic mishandling – sparked further concerns that the government would try to whitewash the investigation.
Authorities have blamed infected frozen food packaging for bringing the virus into the country. Chinese state media claimed yesterday that ‘‘patient zero’’ in the latest outbreak, centred on Beijing, was infected with an imported virus strain after touching a contaminated package of steamed buns.
Last year, the Chinese foreign ministry suggested a widelyridiculed claim that the US military had brought the virus into Wuhan.
Officials are now racing to contain the latest outbreak, just weeks ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, when millions of people are expected to travel to celebrate the event with friends and family.
On Thursday, the country with a 1.4 billion population recorded its first coronavirus death in eight months as infections topped 138 new cases, the highest single-day jump since March last year.
Since mid-December, when infections returned, 1055 cases have been recorded.
The Chinese authorities are taking no chances, and presently have 28 million people under strict quarantine.
In Shijiazhuang, the city currently hardest hit with infections, authorities have begun building a temporary quarantine facility that will have 3000 individual units, in addition to mass testing and designating hospitals to handle Covid-19 patients.