|
 WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said his organisation
looked forward to working with China on the mission to identify the
source of the virus and how it entered the human population.
He had previously said he was "very disappointed" when the experts
were denied entry earlier in the month, forcing two members of the
team to turn back. China said there had been a "misunderstanding".
"According to the current plan, they will fly from Singapore to
Wuhan on January 14," foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a
regular news briefing in Beijing on Tuesday.
He did not respond to a question on whether the team would have to
go into quarantine upon arrival and gave no further details on the
mission's itinerary.
The coronavirus was first detected in the central city of Wuhan in
late 2019 and has since spread around the world, infecting more than
90,500,000 people and killing nearly 2 million.
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 Much remains unknown about its
origins and China has been sensitive about
suspicion of a cover-up that delayed its initial
response and allowed the virus to spread.
Ahead of the team's visit, China has been
seeking to shape the narrative about when and
where the pandemic began, with senior diplomat
Wang Yi saying "more and more studies" showed it
emerged in multiple regions.
A health expert affiliated with the WHO said
previously that expectations should be "very
low" that the team would reach a conclusion from
its trip to China.
(Reporting by Gabriel Crossley; Editing by Kim
Coghill, Robert Birsel)
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