COVID-19 Origin Investigation: WHO Team To Visit China In January

A team of international experts from World Health Organisation (WHO) will visit China in January 2021 as part of an investigation into the origin of novel coronavirus.

WHO spokesman Hedinn Halldorsson confirmed to AFP on Wednesday that the team, which includes epidemiologists and animal health specialists, will finally be travelling to China.

WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had said in August that an “international team” will be sent to Wuhan.

The first case of novel coronavirus was reported in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019. The COVID-19 infection then spread in other parts of China, and then different parts of the world. WHO declared the crisis as a global pandemic in March.

Dubbing it as a ‘Chinese virus’, outgoing US President Donald Trump led a chorus of charge that China was responsible for the pandemic.

China, though, has steadfastly rejected those claims for nine months, denying the theory that it deliberately hid information about the spreading virus in December-January.

Also Read: India Among 62 Nations Asking For Probe Into COVID-19 Origin, WHO Response

Also Read: China Shrugs Off Wuhan Origin Blame, Says COVID-19 Broke Out In Various Parts Of World Last Year