Published on : 17/12/2020 – 07:15Modified : 17/12/2020 – 08:59
–
China will host an international mission in early January to investigate the origins of the virus that triggered the coronavirus pandemic, the World Health Organization announced on Thursday. The first patient diagnosed with Covid-19 was identified in mid-November 2019 in Hubei province, central China.
The World Health Organization (WHO) announced Thursday, December 17, that China would host an international mission in early January to investigate the origins of the virus that triggered the Covid-19 epidemic.
Babatunde Olowokure, head of emergencies in the western Pacific region, told a press conference that the organization is working with Beijing to determine which regions of China the international mission will visit.
“WHO is in contact with China and is discussing the international mission’s travel to the country,” Babatunde Olowokure said. “China will host the mission which should visit the site in early January.”
The United States, which accused China of concealing the scale of the epidemic, called for a “transparent” investigation under WHO leadership and criticized its terms, which allowed Chinese scientists to do the first phase of preliminary research.
China open to WHO investigation
Chinese authorities have firmly opposed requests for an international investigation into the origins of Covid-19, which they consider hostile, but have remained open to an investigation by the WHO.
It is not yet clear whether WHO investigators will travel to Wuhan, where the virus was first detected.
“WHO is in contact with China and is discussing the international mission’s travel to the country,” Babatunde Olowokure, head of emergencies in the western Pacific region, told a press conference.
“For the moment, it looks like China will host the mission which, as far as we know, is expected to go there in early January,” he added.
Chinese public television suggested the virus already existed abroad, before being discovered in Wuhan, saying its presence was detected on packages of frozen products and scientific publications noted that the virus was already in circulation. in Europe last year.
Babatunde Olowokure said the exact dates the mission will visit China will depend on “results of a series of preliminary tests,” without giving further details.
With AFP
– .
