‘China is sharing data with us’ — WHO investigative team finally visits Wuhan lab

An investigative team of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has finally visited the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China.

The Wuhan Institute of Virology became the centre of unfounded coronavirus conspiracies about the origin of the pandemic, following the outbreak of the coronavirus in China,

The institute also made the headlines when the administration of former US President Donald Trump postulated unsubstantiated conspiracy theories that the virus was created at a government-backed laboratory in Wuhan, China.

Experts have, however, disagreed with the Trump’s unfounded theories about the origin of the virus, saying the novel coronavirus was transmitted to human beings from animals.

On January 14, a team of 13 scientists arrived in Wuhan, China to trace the origin of the pandemic , after an earlier disagreement between WHO and Chinese authorities.

TheCable had reported that Tedros Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO, had accused Chinese authorities of delaying a planned visit by a team of experts to the country.

After arrival, the team had embarked on a two-week quarantine in line with the regulations of the Chinese government.

On Wednesday, the team visited the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which houses a laboratory known for research in coronaviruses and met with staff members of the institute.

Speaking on the visit, Peter Daszak, a British expert who is part of the WHO team, said China is cooperating on sharing of data, while the WHO scientists asked staff members of the institute “key questions” — he, however, did not reveal the questions.

“China is sharing data with us that no one has seen before. They are talking with us openly about every possible pathway,” he said.

“You don’t just wander around and take a few pictures. We’re looking at this, asking key questions.

“We say ‘why is this here?’ ‘What happened there?’ We are talking to people who collected the samples from the market and tested them.”

China had first reported COVID-19 infection to the WHO on December 31, 2019, with its origin stated as Wuhan, a commercial city in the country. But the Asian country has been accused of playing politics with the pandemic by withholding information about the virus from the rest of the world.

As of February 3, over 2.2 million coronavirus-related deaths have been confirmed globally.