WHO experts arrive in Wuhan for COVID-19 origin mission

A panel of World Health Organization (WHO) scientists arrive in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, January 14, 2021. /CGTN

A panel of World Health Organization (WHO) scientists arrived in the central China city of Wuhan on Thursdayto cooperate with their Chinese peersin the research of the potential source of the coronavirus.

The WHO team underwent both throat swabs and serum antibody tests at the airport, and will go through relevant quarantine procedures required under China's epidemic control measures before conducting field work.

"Understanding the origin of disease is not about finding somebody to blame," said Dr. Michael Ryan, Executive Director of Health Emergencies at the WHO. "Let this mission and let other missions be about the science, not about the politics."

This is the third such visit since the start of the COVID-19 epidemic in China. China had invited WHO experts twice, in February and July last year, to carry out cooperation on tracing potential sources in China, during which the two sides formulated the China part of a global scientific cooperation plan.

Graphic by CGTN's Jia Jieqiong

China has always adopted an open, transparent and responsible attitude on the issue of tracing the origin of the novel coronavirus, and taken the lead in carrying out scientific cooperation with WHO with the purpose of promoting international research on origin-tracing, said the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

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