MEMBERS OF WHO PROBE BARRED FROM ENTERING

A World Health Organization mission to discover the origins of the coronavirus got off to an inauspicious start Thursday when two members of the team were barred from entering China after failing health checks.

The group of scientists arrived in Wuhan on Thursday to begin the long-awaited investigation, according to the WHO, but two researchers were blocked from continuing on to Wuhan after testing positive for the coronavirus antibodies in their home countries before leaving.

The team's partial arrival comes after Chinese authorities delayed the trip by more than a week, and after almost a year of wrangling and negotiation by the WHO to gain access to the city where the coronavirus emerged.

The investigators — a range of virus, food safety and other experts — face a battle to find the source of the pandemic more than a year after the mysterious virus was first detected.