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 Their arrival at the city in central China on Thursday was disrupted
by the absence of two members who failed coronavirus antibody tests
in Singapore. One of the missing members has since passed a test and
their travel to China is being arranged, according to China's
foreign ministry.
"Team now undergoing the mandatory 14 days quarantine & being
treated very well by our hosts. Work begins today, day 1, in
teleconf. mtgs w/ China team," tweeted team member Peter Daszak, a
zoologist.
The driveway and parking lot of the boutique hotel where the team
are staying was cordoned off with tape on Friday and security
personnel stood guard at the entrance.
The team's arrival in Wuhan came as China is on alert over a
resurgence of COVID-19 infections in its northeast.
The United States, which has accused China of hiding the extent of
its initial outbreak a year ago, has called for a "transparent"
WHO-led investigation and criticised the terms of the visit, under
which Chinese experts have done the first phase of research.
Dominic Dwyer, an Australian virologist on the team, said he and the
other scientists were trying to keep the politics surrounding the
trip aside.
"There's always politics with this sort of scenario but one of the
things that COVID-19 has shown us is if you have good science, you
then inform the politics," he said.
"You want to fill the scientific vacuum with the answers so that
people can make more informed and, therefore, presumably more
sensible decisions."
Dwyer said the itinerary for the rest of the trip was still to be
sorted out but he hoped to visit research institutes, hospitals and
the market where the first human cases of the disease were detected
in late 2019.
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 "Getting an understanding of
how they (markets) work physically by seeing
them is helpful because one's trying to work out
how viruses might have come into the market from
outside...and spread within the market, or parts
of the market, and then spread to the
community," he said.
The team are not allowed to mingle while in
quarantine, so will be holding all meetings
virtually. "It's in the room for
two weeks," said Dwyer. "The rooms are a good size and they've given
everyone exercise equipment and meals are delivered," adding he had
some weights, a skipping rope and a yoga mat.
One of the two missing members of the team, a UK national, will be
allowed to travel to China after re-testing negative in an antibody
test, foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a news briefing in
Beijing on Friday. The other member, who is Sudanese, is still
testing positive for antibodies, he said.
"We will remain in contact with the WHO on these matters," said
Zhao.
The team of 15 had all tested negative for the disease prior to
leaving their home countries, and underwent further testing while in
transit in Singapore.
(Additional reporting by Cate Cadell in Beijing; writing by Gabriel
Crossley; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
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