China, WHO discuss experts’ visit
Massive test in Hebei province capital to bring new COVID-19 outbreak under control
China is still in consultation with the World Health Organization over the details of a visit by international experts to trace the origins of COVID-19, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Jan 6.
“We hope that the specific dates and arrangements of their visit can be decided as soon as possible through our discussions. We will timely inform the media as long as we have further information,” Hua told reporters at a regular news briefing in Beijing.
WHO Director- General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a news conference on June 5 that China has still not authorized the entry of a team of international experts for virus origin-tracing.
“The epidemic situation globally is still severe and in China we are also working to prevent and contain the virus. Our health departments and experts are wholeheartedly in the stressful battle,” Hua said.
The spokeswoman noted that China is still overcoming its own difficulties to advance internal preparations and create conditions for the experts to come to China.
“The origin-tracing is a very complicated matter. To ensure the work of international experts goes smoothly, we need to undergo necessary procedures and make specific arrangements,” Hua said.
She pointed out that China highly values anti-epidemic cooperation and has been open, transparent and responsible on COVID-19 origintracing.
In February and July last year, faced with arduous tasks of domestic epidemic prevention and control, China twice invited WHO experts to come to the country for origin-tracing and formulated the country’s part in a global scientific cooperation plan for carrying out such tracing.
“We had frequent interaction and held four conferences via video link in October and December last year. We candidly talked about our results in origin-tracing and recently we have been adopting a positive and constructive attitude in discussing the origin-tracing cooperation with the WHO,” Hua said.
The country has been hit by a record number of local cases in months, mainly in Hebei and Liaoning provinces, as well as in Beijing.
China’s National Health Commission said it received reports of 63 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases on the Chinese mainland on Jan 5, of which 52 were locally transmitted and 11 were imported.
Of the locally transmitted cases, 51 were reported in Hebei and one in Liaoning, said the commission in its daily report. No new suspected cases or deaths related to the disease were reported.
The COVID-19 outbreak in Hebei province is still developing and the situation is serious, experts said, calling for more decisive and strict measures to contain the virus. Hebei has reported new local cases for five consecutive days since the outbreak started over the year’s first weekend.
Citywide testing for all 10.39 million residents in Shijiazhuang started on Jan 6. As of 5 pm, 2 million samples had been collected and 600,000 of those samples had been tested, with seven testing positive for the virus.
The provincial health commission in Hebei has sent about 1,000 medical workers from other cities to Shijiazhuang as of Jan 6 to support its fight against the outbreak, Zhang Dongsheng, deputy head of the Shijiazhuang health commission, said that day, adding that another 2,000 medical workers were arriving in the city.
“The origintracing is a very complicated matter. To ensure the work of international experts goes smoothly, we need to undergo necessary procedures and make specific arrangements.”
HUA CHUNYING Foreign Ministry spokeswoman