A World Health Organization team investigating the roots of the coronavirus has visited the Chinese food market, which was previously linked to many early infections.
Health workers spent about an hour at the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan on Sunday.
Scientists once suspected of selling animals on the market have been linked to the December 2019 outbreak. This theory has been largely ruled out, but WHO workers say the site could provide clues as to how the deadly virus has spread so widely. quick.
“Very important site visits today – a wholesale market first and the Huanan Seafood market right now,” said Peter Daszak, a zoologist with the US EcoHealth Alliance and a member of the WHO team. posted on Twitter. “Very informative and critical for our joint teams to understand the epidemiology of COVID, as it began to spread at the end of 2019.”
Before visiting the Huanan Seafood Market, team members were joined by a large entourage of Chinese officials for a walk through Baishazhou Market – one of the largest food outlets in the industrial city, which was a distribution center during the closure. its 76 days.
The visit was politically charged as Communist Party leaders sought to avoid blame for mistakes in the country’s early response to the outbreak. China has previously blocked the planned entry of scientists into the market. It overturned the decision earlier this month after WHO leaders accused the country of obstructing the investigation.
The international team of experts in veterinary medicine, virology, food safety and epidemiology also visited two hospitals in the center of the early outbreak and a museum on the early history of COVID-19.
A member of the WHO team pointed a finger at a reporter who asked about the success of the tours.
However, a single visit by the team is unlikely to generate responses. Usually, years of research involving animal testing, genetic analysis and epidemiological studies are needed to determine the origin of an outbreak.
Chinese officials have launched an unconfirmed theory that the outbreak started from imported frozen seafood, but a more viable possibility is for a wild poacher to transmit the virus to traders who brought it to Wuhan.
Wuhan accounted for the majority of China’s 4,635 COVID-19 deaths, but reports have been out of focus since the blockade was lifted in April last year.
A November study by the National Cancer Institute said the virus appeared to have circulated in Milan in September 2019 – three months before the outbreak was reported in Wuhan.
With Post Wires