WHO team in China visit disease centre in Hubei

Wuhan - Covid outbreak emerged in late 2019 in central region of Hubei.

A World Health Organisation-led team investigating the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic on Monday visited the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in China’s central region of Hubei, where the outbreak emerged in late 2019.

The WHO, which has sought to manage expectations for the mission, has said its members would be limited to visits organised by their Chinese hosts and have no contact with community members, because of health curbs.

The group has so far also visited hospitals where early cases were detected, markets, and an exhibition on the battle with the outbreak in the provincial capital of Wuhan.

No full itinerary for the group’s field work has been announced, and journalists covering the tightly controlled visit have been kept at a distance from team members.

Yanzhong Huang, senior fellow with the Council of Foreign Relations in Washington, said two weeks in the field was not much time for the experts.

“I don’t think they have the time to get any conclusive results. It is more like communication and information exchange,” Huang told Reuters by phone from Washington.