WHO team starts Wuhan probe

COVID-19 ORIGIN: CONCERN OVER ‘MISINFORMATION’ Washington calls for a ‘robust and clear’ investigation.

Ateam of experts from the World Health Organisation left quarantine in Wuhan yesterday to begin a heavily scrutinised probe into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic, after Washington urged a “robust and clear” investigation.

The group started a two-week quarantine on arrival on 14 January in the central Chinese city where the first known cluster of virus cases emerged in late 2019.

Wearing masks, they peered at the ranks of waiting media from a bus which whisked them from the quarantine hotel.

The virus is believed to have come from bats and to have initially spread from a wet market in Wuhan where wild animals were sold as food.

The WHO insists the visit will be tightly tethered to the science of how the virus jumped from animals to humans.

But in a sign of the political baggage attached to their mission, US President Joe Biden’s new administration weighed in before the experts had even left their hotel.

New White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on Wednesday that it was “imperative we get to the bottom” of how the virus appeared and spread worldwide.

Psaki voiced concern over “misinformation” from “some sources in China” and urged a “robust and clear” probe.

In a mission dogged by delays from their Chinese hosts, it was not clear what the expert team will be allowed to see in Wuhan. The early days of the outbreak remain among the most sensitive topics in China today, with the Communist leadership seeking to stamp out any discussion that shows its governance in a poor light.

Relatives of Wuhan’s coronavirus dead have called for a meeting with the team from the UN health agency, saying they have been facing new levels of official obstruction since the WHO team arrived.

They accuse the Chinese government of taking down a WeChat group used by scores of next-of-kin to discuss the outbreak shortly after the WHO team arrived.

The virus is believed to have come from bats