Experts from the World Health Organisation (WHO) will visit China on Thursday to conduct a thorough investigation into the origin of the coronavirus pandemic that began in December 2019, reported NDTV News.
The coronavirus pandemic has caused almost two million deaths and brought the global economy to a virtual standstill.
China’s National Health Commission on Monday said experts will be meeting with Chinese counterparts, without giving any further details.
The commission said the expert team “will conduct joint research cooperation on the origins of Covid-19 with Chinese scientists.”
Earlier this month, China refused to allow health experts to launch an investigation into the origin of the pandemic.
WHO’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had expressed his disappointment over delays, saying that members of the international scientific team departing from their home countries had already started on their trip as part of an arrangement between the WHO and the Chinese government.
“I’m very disappointed with this news, given that two members had already begun their journeys and others were not able to travel at the last minute, but had been in contact with senior Chinese officials,” he said criticizing China’s stance on the issue.
Beijing’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying called the issue a “misunderstanding”.
The WHO experts are expected to visit Wuhan, the city where the deadly virus was first detected in late 2019.
China has been accused of covering up the coronavirus that delayed its initial response, allowing the virus to spread since it first emerged in Wuhan.
The United States has called out for a transparent WHO-led investigation and criticized its terms, which allowed Chinese scientists to do the first phase of preliminary research.
According to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Africa crossed the milestone of 3 million confirmed cases COVID-19 on Sunday, including more than 72,000 deaths.
