WHO team to arrive in China on Thursday

BEIJING: A World Health Organisation (WHO) team of international experts tasked with investigating the origins of the Covid19 pandemic will arrive in China on Thursday, Chinese authorities said yesterday.

Lack of authorisation from Beijing had delayed the arrival of the 10strong team on a longawaited mission to investigate early infections, in what China’s foreign ministry called a ‘‘misunderstanding’’.

The National Health Commission, which announced the arrival date, delayed from its early January schedule, did not detail the team’s itinerary.

China has been accused of a coverup that delayed its initial response, allowing the virus to spread after it emerged in the central city of Wuhan late in 2019.

The United States has called for a ‘‘transparent’’ WHOled investigation and criticised its terms, which allowed Chinese scientists to do the first phase of preliminary research.

Beijing has been seeking to shape the narrative about when and where the pandemic began, with senior diplomat Wang Yi saying ‘‘more and more studies’’ showed it emerged in multiple regions.

While other countries struggle with infection surges, China has aggressively doused flareups.

The 103 new cases reported yesterday were mainland China’s biggest daily increase in more than five months, as new infections rose in the province of Hebei, surrounding Beijing.

Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei, went into lockdown and Hebei closed some highways to curb the spread of the virus. — Reuters