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 Lack of authorisation from Beijing had delayed the arrival of the
10-strong team on a long-awaited mission to investigate early
infections, in what China's foreign ministry called a
"misunderstanding".
The National Health Commission, which announced the arrival date,
delayed from its early January schedule, did not detail the team's
itinerary, however.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus welcomed the news.
"We look forward to working closely with our (Chinese) counterparts
on this critical mission to identify the virus source & its route of
introduction to the human population," Tedros wrote on Twitter.
He previously said he was "very disappointed" when experts were
denied entry earlier this month, forcing two members of the team to
turn back.
China has been accused of a cover-up that delayed its initial
response, allowing the virus to spread since it first emerged in the
central city of Wuhan late in 2019.
The United States has called for a "transparent" WHO-led
investigation and criticised its terms, which allowed Chinese
scientists to do the first phase of preliminary research.
Ahead of the trip, Beijing 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 expectations should be
"very low" that the team will reach a conclusion from their trip to
China.
[to top of second column] |
 While other countries continue
to struggle with infection surges, China has
aggressively doused flare-ups.
Sunday's 103 new cases were mainland China's
biggest daily increase in more than five months,
as new infections rise in the province of Hebei,
surrounding the capital, Beijing.
Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei, went into lockdown and Hebei closed
down some sections of highways in the province to curb the spread of
the virus.
Wangkui county, under the jurisdiction of Suihua city in
Heilongjiang province, reported eight new asymptomatic cases and
moved on Monday to close all non-essential businesses, banned people
from leaving the city and blocked all non-essential traffic, state
television reported on Monday.
(Interactive graphic tracking global spread of coronavirus: https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps)
(Reporting by Gabriel Crossley and Emma Farge in Geneva; Writing by
Se Young Lee; Editing by Himani Sarkar, Clarence Fernandez and
Michael Perry)
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