|
 The independent team has already visited key hospitals, the regional
disease control centre and the city's Huanan seafood market, where
the first cluster of infections was believed to have originated late
in 2019.
The trip was going "really well, excellent," one of its members,
Peter Daszak, president of the EcoHealth Alliance, told Reuters on
Tuesday, responding to a query just before entering the animal
health centre.
The centre in the province of Hubei, which fights epidemic diseases
in animals, could provide information on how a coronavirus endemic
in horseshoe bats in southwest China might have crossed into humans,
possibly via an intermediary species.
Peter Ben Embarek, the WHO's top expert on "zoonotic" diseases that
originate in animals, was among the team members clad in white suits
of personal protective equipment spotted within the centre's
premises.
A worker, also wearing protective gear, disinfected the road outside
after the team had entered.
[to top of second column] |
 On Monday, the WHO's top
emergency official, Mike Ryan, said the
investigation might not find all the answers to
the origins of COVID-19, describing the mission
as a "detective story" that continued to raise
new questions.
He also criticised those who have said they
would not accept the team's findings.
"It deserves the support of the international
community and it deserves to be able to finish
its work," he added.
(Interactive graphic tracking global spread of
coronavirus: https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps)
(Reporting by Martin Pollard and Thomas Peter in
Wuhan; Additional reporting by Stephanie Nebehay
in Geneva; Writing by David Stanway; Editing by
Clarence Fernandez)
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