WUHAN, China (AP) – World Health Organization investigators on Wednesday visited a research center in the Chinese city of Wuhan that has been the subject of speculation about the origins of the coronavirus.
The WHO team’s visit to the Wuhan Institute of Virology is the culmination of their mission to collect data and look for clues as to the origin and spread of the virus.
Reporters followed the team to the high-security facility, but, as with past visits, there was no direct access to team members who had so far provided rare details about their discussions and visits. Civilian uniformed and plainclothes security guards watched in the thick of the morning fog, but there were no signs of the protective clothing the team members wore on Tuesday during a visit to an animal disease research center. .
One of the most important antivirus research laboratories in China, the institute has built an archive of genetic information about bat coronaviruses after the 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome. This has led to unproven allegations that it may have something to do with the initial outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan at the end of 2019.
China has strongly denied this possibility and promoted theories that the virus could have originated elsewhere or even been brought into the country from abroad with imports of frozen seafood contaminated with the virus, a notion flatly rejected by humans. science and international agencies.
The deputy director of the institute is Shi Zhengli, a virologist who worked with Peter Daszak, a zoologist on the WHO team’s mission, to detect the origins of SARS that appeared in China and led to the outbreak in 2003. She has published widely in academic journalists. and worked to debate theories held by the former Trump administration and other U.S. officials that the virus is either a biological weapon or a “laboratory leak” from the institute.
After two weeks in quarantine, the WHO team, which includes experts from 10 nations, visited hospitals, research institutes and a traditional wet market linked to many of the first cases. Their visit followed months of negotiations, as China seeks to maintain strict control over information about the outbreak and the investigation into its origins, possibly to avoid blame for alleged mistakes in its early response.
Confirmation of the origin of the virus will probably take years. Fixing the animal reservoir of an outbreak usually requires thorough research, including animal sampling, genetic analysis and epidemiological studies. One possibility is that a wild poacher transmitted the virus to traders who transported it to Wuhan.
The first clusters of COVID-19 were detected in Wuhan in late 2019, prompting the government to put the city of 11 million in a strict 76-day blockade. China has since reported more than 89,000 cases and 4,600 deaths, with new cases largely focusing on its cold northeast and local blockades and travel restrictions imposed to counter outbreaks.
New cases of local transmission continue to fall, with only 15 reported on Wednesday as the Chinese government warns not to travel for the New Year holidays later this month.