Wuhan
US has 'concerns' on COVID-19 info from China after WHO probe
Despite failing to find the virus origins a year after the pandemic began, the team of foreign experts did agree it likely jumped from bats to an unknown animal...
The WHO's mission to Wuhan, where the first cases were identified, failed to identify the source of the virus but poured cold water on the theory that it leaked from the city's virology laboratory.
The World Health Organization mission ended Tuesday without finding the source of the virus, but members had to walk a diplomatic tightrope during their stay, with the US urging a 'robust' probe and China warning against politicising the issue.
Experts believe the disease - which has gone on to kill more than 2.3 million people worldwide - originated in bats and could have been transmitted to humans via another mammal.
Beijing-based South African English teachers say an efficient public service and an obedient citizenry have allowed China to control the spread of COVID-19 better than most countries.
The investigative team arrived at the Hubei province animal disease prevention centre in Wuhan Tuesday morning, where the group donned white hazmat suits for a tour of the facilities.
China has faced criticism at home and abroad for playing down the initial outbreak and concealing information when it first emerged in Wuhan in December 2019, raising doubts over the usefulness of the WHO trip.
A WHO investigative team is in Wuhan, China - where the first cases were discovered in December 2019 - trying to piece together how the virus jumped from animals to humans before going on to kill more than two million people.
Members of the group arrived at Huanan seafood market - which has been sealed since January last year - driving into its barricaded premises as guards quickly blocked others from entering.
The group was driven to the Jinyintan Hospital, the first hospital to receive officially diagnosed COVID-19 patients in late 2019, as the horrors of the virus emerged in the central Chinese city.
The WHO investigation has been hobbled by delays, and there are fears over access and the strength of evidence a year after the virus emerged in the central Chinese city.
A year ago Saturday, Wuhan shocked the world by confining its 11 million anxious citizens to their homes, beginning a traumatic 76-day lockdown that underscored the growing threat of a mysterious pathogen emanating from the city.
As the rest of the world continues to grapple with lockdowns and soaring infections, young people in the city, once the epicentre of the novel coronavirus, are enjoying their hard-earned freedom.
COVID-19 was first detected in the central city of Wuhan in late 2019, before seeping beyond China's borders to wreak global havoc, costing more than two million lives and eviscerating economies.
The WHO says establishing the pathway of the virus from animals to humans is essential to preventing future outbreaks.
The 10 scientists, who must complete a two-week quarantine in Wuhan before starting their work, arrived for their much-delayed mission to examine the orgins of the pandemic.
The 10 scientists will investigate the origins of the new virus in a politically fraught mission that comes more than a year after the pandemic began and after accusations Beijing has tried to thwart the project.
This comes more than a year after the pandemic began and amid accusations Beijing delayed the investigation.
A 10-strong team was due to arrive in China this week after months of painstaking negotiations.