WUHAN, China (AP) – World Health Organization researchers looking for clues to the origin of the coronavirus in the city of Wuhan, in central China, said the Chinese side had provided a high level of cooperation, but warned against the expectation of immediate results of the visit.
“I keep saying that we need to be realistic, a short mission like this will not have all the answers, but it does help advance understanding of #virusorigin #wuhan,” Hung Nguyen-Viet, co-leader of the Institute’s Animal and Human Health Program International Livestock Research in Nairobi, Kenya, said in a tweet on Thursday.
In a previous tweet, zoologist and staff member Peter Daszak praised Wednesday’s meetings with staff at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, including deputy director Shi Zhengli, a virologist who worked with Daszak to trace the origins of SARS that originated in China and led to the 2003 outbreak.
“An extremely important meeting today with the WIV team, including Dr. Shi Zhengli. Frank, open discussion. Key questions asked and answered ”, tweeted Daszak.
The team on Thursday spent about two hours in meetings with managers and residents at the Jiangxinyuan community administrative center in Hanuang district in Wuhan. No details were given.
Official statistics show that there were at least 16 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the community last year among nearly 10,000 people who lived there when the virus first appeared.
Daszak previously tweeted images from the media outside the institute of virology, saying: “Thanking the press for their patience and interest in spreading this news to the world. The work is moving forward and we hope to be able to talk about the results as soon as possible. “
The Wuhan Institute of Virology collected extensive samples of the virus, leading to unproven claims that it may have caused the original outbreak by leaking the virus to the surrounding community. China has vehemently denied this possibility and has promoted unproven theories that the virus may have originated elsewhere.
Along with the institute, the WHO team, which includes specialists from 10 nations, visited hospitals, research institutes, a traditional market linked to the outbreak and other places.
Team members met with researchers and managers at the institute, experts, salespeople, residents and media representatives, Chinese National Health Commission spokesman Mi Feng told reporters at a news conference on Thursday.
It is likely to take years and several investigations in many parts of the globe to confirm the origins of the virus because of extensive research, including animal samples, genetic analyzes and epidemiological studies needed to locate an outbreak’s animal reservoir. One possibility is that an illegal hunter may have passed the virus on to merchants who carried it to Wuhan, but that has yet to be proven.
The first clusters of COVID-19 were detected in Wuhan in late 2019, prompting the government to place the city of 11 million people under strict blockade for 76 days. Since then, China has reported more than 89,000 cases and 4,600 deaths – most of them in Wuhan – with new cases largely concentrated in the northeast and places of confinement and travel restrictions being imposed to contain the outbreaks.
New cases of local transmission dropped to just 17 on Thursday, with the Chinese responding to government calls to skip family visits and stay put during the Lunar New Year holiday later this month.
China has also put forward a plan to vaccinate 50 million people against COVID-19 by the middle of this month. On Wednesday, more than 31 million doses were administered, Mi told reporters.