WUHAN, China (AP) – World Health Organization researchers visited a research center in the Chinese city of Wuhan on Wednesday that has been the subject of speculation about the origins of the coronavirus, with one member saying they intended to meet with top officials and pressure them on critical issues.
The WHO team’s visit to the Wuhan Institute of Virology was a highlight of their mission to collect data and search for clues about the origin and spread of the virus.
“We look forward to meeting all the key people here and asking all the important questions that need to be asked,” said zoologist and team member Peter Daszak, according to images broadcast by Japanese broadcaster TBS.
Reporters followed the team to the high security facility, but, as with previous visits, there was little direct access to team members, who have provided few details of their discussions and visits so far. Uniformed and plainclothes security guards stood guard over the facility’s entrance gate, but there was no sign of the protective suits that staff members put on Tuesday during a visit to an animal disease research center. It was unclear what protective equipment was used inside the institute.
The team left after about three hours without speaking to the waiting journalists.
At a daily meeting, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said that experts also had talks on Wednesday with experts at Huazhong Agricultural University.
“It should be noted that traceability of the virus is a complex scientific issue and we need to provide enough space for experts to conduct scientific research,” said Wang. “China will continue to cooperate with WHO in an open, transparent and accountable manner, and will make its contribution to better preventing future risks and protecting the lives and health of people in all countries.”
After two weeks in quarantine, the WHO team, which includes specialists in veterinary medicine, virology, food safety and epidemiology from 10 countries, visited hospitals, research institutes and a traditional market linked to many of the first cases in the last six days. The visit came after months of negotiations, while China seeks to maintain tight control over information about the outbreak and investigating its origins, which some see as an attempt to avoid blame for any errors in its initial response.
One of China’s leading virus research labs, the Wuhan Institute of Virology built an archive of genetic information on coronaviruses in bats after the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in 2003. This has led to unproven claims that there may be a link with the original outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan in late 2019.
China has vehemently denied this possibility and has also promoted unproven theories that the virus may have originated elsewhere or even brought abroad with the import of frozen seafood contaminated with the virus, a notion totally rejected by scientists and international agencies.
The institute’s deputy director is Shi Zhengli, a virologist who worked with Daszak to trace the origins of SARS that originated in China and led to the 2003 outbreak. She published widely in academic journalists and worked to unmask the theories espoused by the former government Trump and other American officials that the virus is a biological weapon or a “laboratory leak” from the institute.
Confirming the origins of the virus can take years. Determining the animal reservoir for an outbreak usually requires extensive research, including animal samples, genetic analysis and epidemiological studies. One possibility is that a wildlife hunter passed the virus on to traders who took it to Wuhan.
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, with new cases largely concentrated in its northeast and confinement sites and travel restrictions being imposed to contain the outbreaks.
New cases of local transmission continue to fall, with only 15 reported on Wednesday, while the Chinese heed the government’s calls not to travel for the Lunar New Year holiday later this month.