The World Health Organization (WHO) team on Monday visited Wuhan Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as well as Hubei Provincial CDC. The international experts also had in-depth exchanges with local peers on early case samples and study data as reported by Chinese state media. The team on Sunday visited the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan, the epicenter of China’s coronavirus outbreak last year. The seafood market is where the first COVID-19 cases in China were discovered in late 2019 and has since been closed.
Meanwhile, a Russian expert Vladimir Dedkov, part of the WHO mission, said on Monday that they don’t plan to take any samples, as reported by a leading Russian news agency. He said, during the visit, they will not be able to answer all the questions like where the novel coronavirus originated from and so on. It is just the first big visit and further research will be planned during it. A program of research will be drawn jointly with the Chinese side and it will take certain time to implement it, he added.
National health Commission spokesperson also said in a statement that the Chinese side and the WHO team have reached an agreement on future efforts, and the two sides will continue to conduct joint research, which will involve visiting related disease control and prevention facilities, scientific research institutes and trade markets, After a 14-day quarantine, the WHO-led team consisting of 13 scientists from across the world started their field visit in Wuhan on Friday.
They also visited two hospitals in Wuhan which were the main battlegrounds for treating patients in the early days of the outbreak. Exact itinerary has not been announced, but the WHO has said the team plans to visit the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
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