[The group of scientists arrived in Wuhan to begin the long-awaited investigation, according to the WHO, but two researchers were kept in Singapore, where they were transiting, and prevented from continuing to Wuhan after failing to clear health checks. China requires all airline passengers to present negative antibody tests before being able to travel to the country.]
By Lily Kuo
The group of scientists arrived in
Wuhan to begin the long-awaited investigation, according to the WHO, but two
researchers were kept in Singapore, where they were transiting, and prevented
from continuing to Wuhan after failing to clear health checks. China requires all airline passengers to present
negative antibody tests before being able to travel to the country.
The pair had tested positive
for coronavirus antibodies in their home countries before
leaving. All members of the team, tested before leaving and once again in
Singapore, tested negative for the virus.
The team’s partial arrival comes
after Chinese authorities delayed the trip by more than a week, and after
almost a year of wrangling and negotiation by the WHO to gain access to the
central Chinese city where the coronavirus emerged.
The investigators — a range of
virus, food safety and other experts — face a battle to find the source of the
pandemic more than a year after the mysterious virus was first detected. They
will also grapple with political hurdles and added
scrutiny as critics accuse the U.N. health body of being beholden to China,
whose state media has been promoting the narrative that the virus
originated outside the country.
[Politics
frustrate WHO mission to search for origins of coronavirus in China]
WHO researchers have said they are
committed to following “all leads,” while Beijing has pledged willingness to
cooperate, despite initial opposition to an international probe. Chinese
officials said this week that the international team will work with Chinese
researchers in the investigation, raising questions about the team’s freedom to
pursue all lines of inquiry.
The mission faces the added
complication of a spike in virus cases in China, where authorities on Thursday
reported the country’s first coronavirus death in eight months. Health
officials said a woman in Zengcheng village in Hebei province, the epicenter of
a new outbreak near Beijing, died Wednesday from organ failure caused by the
virus.
After experiencing a mild fever,
coughing and breathing problems, the woman tested positive for the virus on
Jan. 9 and was hospitalized. Hebei health officials did not give the woman’s
age but have previously said all critical cases in the province were patients
over age 60. Officials said she had underlying, severe post-cardiac injury
syndrome.
China, which celebrated victory
over the virus last year with businesses and schools reopening and awards
handed out to virus experts and front-line medical workers, is now battling
resurgent cases. The National Health Commission on Thursday reported 138 new
infections, the largest daily increase since last March.
[China
grapples with new coronavirus cases ahead of Lunar New Year]
On Thursday, authorities were
marshaling resources and manpower to Hebei province, where more than 20 million
people in several cities within commuting distance of Beijing have been placed
under lockdown. At least 3,000 quarantine units arrived in the provincial
capital of Shijiazhuang, while workers were constructing field hospitals in
Beijing.
According to official records, less
than 5,000 people have died in China from the coronavirus — a total that
critics say has probably been understated given the number of deaths in the
early days of the outbreak before testing kits were widely available.
On social media, news of the
country’s first covid-19 death since mid-2020 was one of the most discussed
topics, with users asking for more details of the woman’s case. One commentator
wrote: “Why does the news only say that there was one death in Hebei? How old
is she? Why did they fail in saving her?”
Lyric Li in Seoul and Alicia Chen
in Taipei contributed to this report.
Read more
Politics
frustrate WHO mission to search for origins of coronavirus in China
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China
grapples with new coronavirus cases ahead of Lunar New Year
