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 The mission has been plagued by delays, concern over access and
bickering between China and the United States, which has accused
China of hiding the extent of the initial outbreak and criticised
the terms of the visit, under which Chinese experts conducted the
first phase of research.
The WHO has not provided details of the mission's itinerary,
although team leader Peter Ben Embarek said in November that the
group would likely go to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, where
the first known cluster of cases was traced.
The team, made up of independent experts, is due to remain for two
more weeks in China, which has used stringent measures, including
drastically curtailing international arrivals, to curb the spread of
the coronavirus. China has been battling a series of local outbreaks
over the past month.
"During the second 14 days, the team will be able to go out under
strict medical supervision, continuous testing and the restrictive
measures," Hans Kluge, the WHO's European regional director, told a
news conference on Thursday.
He said the first two weeks had been productive.
"The team members have been prepared by counterparts in China in
different fields, there have been, every day, many, many hours of
presentations and exchange of data," he said.
After leaving their quarantine hotel shortly after 3 p.m. (0700 GMT)
without speaking to journalists, team members boarded a bus to a
lakeside hotel, where a portion of the building and grounds were
cordoned off. One of them could be seen taking photos of the sunset
over the lake.
Several team members described long work days during their
quarantine, and relief at being able to leave their rooms.
"Slightly sad to say goodbye to my 'gym' & my 'office' where I’ve
been holed up for last 2 wks!!," team member Peter Daszak said on
Twitter, along with photos of exercise equipment and a desk in his
hotel room.
"Moving into next phase of work now w/@WHO mission team & China
counterparts," he said.
The team members' luggage, loaded onto the bus by workers in
protective suits, included yoga mats and what appeared to be a
guitar case.
MANAGING EXPECTATIONS
The WHO has sought to manage expectations for the investigation.
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"There are no guarantees of answers," WHO emergencies chief Mike
Ryan told reporters this month. "It is a difficult task to fully
establish the origins and sometimes it can take two or three or four
attempts to be able to do that in different settings."
China's foreign ministry said the team would participate in
seminars, visits and field trips.
"All these activities must be in accordance with the principle of
tracking the origin scientifically and with the ultimate goal of
preventing future risks and protecting the safety and health of the
people," ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a regular briefing on
Thursday.
SCIENCE AND POLITICS
The origin of COVID-19 has been highly politicised.
The investigating team had been set to arrive in Wuhan earlier in
January, and China's delay of their visit drew rare public criticism
from the head of the WHO, which former U.S. President Donald Trump
accused of being "China-centric" early in the outbreak.
China has been pushing a narrative that the virus existed abroad
before it was discovered in Wuhan, with state media citing the
presence of the virus on imported frozen food packaging and
scientific papers saying it had been circulating in Europe in 2019.
China's foreign ministry has also hinted on several occasions that
the sudden closure of a U.S. army laboratory at Fort Detrick in
Maryland in July 2019 was linked to the pandemic.
A man surnamed Lei who was organising bicycles outside the
quarantine hotel said it was not certain that the virus had
originated in China.
"People are saying that the virus came from other countries," he
said. "I'm really not sure."
(Reporting by Gabriel Crossley in Wuhan; Additional reporting by Yew
Lun Tian in Beijing and Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; Writing by Tony
Munroe; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore, Raju Gopalakrishnan and Alex
Richardson)
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