WUHAN, China (AP) – Researchers from the World Health Organization visited a research center in the Chinese city of Wuhan on Wednesday that has been speculating about the origin of the coronavirus, with a member saying they planned to meet key personnel and press them on critical issues.
The WHO team’s visit to the Wuhan Institute of Virology was a culmination of their mission to collect data and search for clues as to where the virus came from and how it spread.
“We look forward to meeting all the key figures here and asking all the important questions to be asked,” said zoologist and team member Peter Daszak, according to footage from Japanese broadcaster TBS.
Reporters followed the team to the high-security facility, but as with previous visits, there was little direct access to team members, who have so far provided little detail about their discussions and visits. Uniformed and plain-clothes security guards stood guard outside the facility’s gated main gate, but there was no sign of the protective suits team members donned on Tuesday while visiting an animal disease research center. It was not clear what protective clothing was worn at the institute.
The team left after about three hours without talking to waiting reporters.
During a daily briefing, Wang Wenbin, spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, said the experts also had talks with experts from Huazhong Agricultural University on Wednesday.
“It should be noted that virus traceability is a complex scientific issue, and we need to provide sufficient space for experts to conduct scientific research,” Wang said. “China will continue to work with the WHO in an open, transparent and accountable manner, helping to better prevent future risks and protect the lives and health of people in all countries.”
After two weeks in quarantine, the WHO team, made up of experts in veterinary medicine, virology, food safety and epidemiology from 10 countries, spent the past six days visiting hospitals, research institutes and a traditional wet market associated with many of the first cases. Their visit followed months of negotiation, with China striving to keep information about the outbreak and investigation into its origins tight, in what some have seen as an attempt to avoid blame for any missteps in its early response.
One of the top virus research labs in China, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, built an archive of genetic information on bat coronaviruses after the 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome outbreak, leading to unproven allegations that it may be linked to the disease. original outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan in late 2019.
China has firmly denied that possibility, and has also promoted unproven theories that the virus may have come from elsewhere or even have been brought into the country from abroad with imports of frozen seafood contaminated with the virus, an idea that is flatly rejected by international scientists and agencies.
The institute’s deputy director is Shi Zhengli, a virologist who worked with Daszak to track down the origins of SARS that originated in China and led to the 2003 outbreak. She has published extensively in academic journalists and has worked to debunk theories held by the former Trump administration and other US officials that the virus is either a bioweapon or a “lab leak” of the institute.
Confirmation of the virus’s origin will likely take years. Securing the animal tank from an outbreak usually requires thorough investigation, including animal sampling, genetic analysis and epidemiological studies. One possibility is that a wild animal poacher passed on the virus to traders who brought it to Wuhan.
The first clusters of COVID-19 were detected in Wuhan in late 2019, eventually leading the government to put the city of 11 million residents under a strict lockout for 76 days. China has since reported more than 89,000 cases and 4,600 deaths, with new cases largely concentrated in the Northeast and local lockdowns and travel restrictions imposed to contain outbreaks.
New cases of local transmission continue to decline with just 15 reports on Wednesday as Chinese heeded the government’s call not to travel for the Lunar New Year holiday later this month.