China says it didn’t block virus mission

BEIJING • China has played down concerns that a World Health Organization mission was blocked from investigating the origins of COVID-19, saying discussions on access are still taking place amid a spike in local infections.

Hua Chunying, a foreign ministry spokesman, told a regular news briefing in Beijing that the problem was “not just about visas” for the team.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the WHO, said on Tuesday he was “very disappointed” that China had not authorized the entry of the team for the investigation.

Much remains unknown about the origins of COVID- 19 and China has been sensitive about any suggestion it could have done more in the early stages of the pandemic to stop it.

Hua said there had been a “misunderstanding” and the two sides were still in discussions over the timing and other arrangements and “remain in close communication.”

“There’s no need to overinterpret this,” she said.

China’s experts were also busy dealing with a renewed spike of coronavirus infections, with many locations entering a “wartime footing” to stop the virus, she said.

More than 400 infections have been recorded in recent weeks after a cluster erupted in Beijing, seen as an embarrassment for a country that has sought to get to zero cases.

The 10- strong team of international experts had been due to set off in early January as part of a long- awaited mission to investigate early cases of the disease.

China has been seeking to shape the narrative about when and where the pandemic began, with senior diplomat Wang Yi claiming that “more and more studies” showed it emerged in multiple regions. Mike Ryan, the WHO emergencies chief, has previously called this “highly speculative.”

Foreign journalists trying to report on the impact and origins of coronavirus, including from The Daily Telegraph, have been harassed since the outbreak began at cemeteries in Wuhan and at caves deep in China where scientists had studied similar coronaviruses.

Authorities have instructed some Wuhan residents not to speak to foreign journalists, saying that only praise for the government response is acceptable.