WHO Team In China Begins COVID-19 Investigation With Virtual Meetings

Team from WHO (Thomas Peter / Reuters, Antara)

JAKARTA - A team led by the World Health Organization (WHO), which is investigating the origins of COVID-19, will start a virtual meeting with Chinese hosts. The meeting will be held at a hotel in Wuhan, where the pandemic was first discovered.

The arrival of a team of investigators in the central Chinese city of Wuhan on Thursday, January 14 was interrupted by the absence of two members, who failed a coronavirus antibody test in Singapore. One of the two members finally passed the COVID-19 test and his trip to China is being arranged, according to China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"The team is now undergoing a mandatory 14-day quarantine and is being very well cared for by our hosts. Work starts today, day one, via a teleconference meeting with the Chinese team," tweeted a member of the investigative team, Peter Daszak, who is a zoologist.

On Friday, January 15, the driveway and parking lot of the boutique hotel where the team was staying was covered with plaster, and security personnel stood guard at the entrance. The investigation team's arrival in Wuhan comes as China is wary of the resurgence of COVID-19 infections in its northeastern region.

The United States, which a year ago accused China of hiding its initial outbreak levels, has called for a WHO-led investigation to be "transparent". The US has also criticized the terms of the team's visit, with which Chinese experts have conducted the first phase of research.

Dominic Dwyer, an Australian virologist on the team, said he and other scientists were trying to rule out the political aspects surrounding the investigation visit.

"There is always politics with a scenario like this, but one of the things that COVID-19 has shown us is if we have good science, then we can then inform the political side," he said.

"You want to fill in the scientific gaps with answers so people can make more information and, therefore, decisions that may make more sense," Dwyer said.

Dwyer said travel plans for the remaining time of the visit still had to be finalized, but he hoped to visit research institutes, hospitals and markets where the first human cases of COVID-19 were detected by the end of 2019.

"Getting an understanding of how they (the market) work physically by looking at it is very helpful because we are trying to figure out how the virus can enter the market from outside ... and spread within the market, or parts of the market, and then spread to society," he explained.

Investigators have so far not been allowed to mingle while in quarantine, so team members will be holding virtually all meetings.

"We were in the room for two weeks. The rooms are good size and they have given everyone exercise equipment, and food is delivered," said Dwyer, who also mentioned that he was given some weightlifting equipment, jumping ropes and yoga mats.

One of the two team members who have not been able to join, namely a British national, will be allowed to travel to China after the antibody test comes back negative, China's foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said during a press conference in Beijing on Friday, January 15. .

He also mentioned that one other member, who is a Sudanese, had tested positive for the COVID-19 antibody. "We will keep in touch with WHO on this issue," said Zhao.

The team of 15 COVID-19 investigators all tested negative for the disease before leaving their home countries and underwent further testing while in transit in Singapore.