WHO to send team to China to investigate origin of COVID-19

Geneva, July 01: With several questions being raised on the World Health Organisation (WHO) over their handling of the pandemic, the global health body is going to send a team of experts to China next week to investigate and analyze the origin of the novel coronavirus after six months since the first case found in Wuhan.

 

 

 

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said tracing the source of the outbreak could help fight the spread of coronavirus. "Knowing the source of the virus is very, very important," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a virtual press briefing. "We can fight the virus better when we know everything about the virus, including how it started," he said.

 

"We will be sending a team next week to China to prepare for that and we hope that that will lead to understanding how the virus started,” he added. The visit, he also said that "it will hopefully lead to “understanding how the virus started and what we can do for the future to prepare".Tedros did not specify the make-up of the team, or what specifically its mission was. Meanwhile, scientists believe the virus jumped from animals to humans, possibly at a market in Wuhan selling exotic animals for meat.

 

Earlier US President Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have alleged that the virus may have originated from a virology lab in Wuhan, China. However, China has repeatedly denied the possibility the coronavirus leaked from the lab, and many virologists have said it is unlikely. They also urged the health organization to send a team to China for investigation.

 

The WHO chief also warned that the pandemic was “speeding up” and was far from over, saying he feared “the worst is still to come” unless international unity replaces fractious division.