According to a media report, two experts from the international team that is tasked with researching the origins of the coronavirus in China on behalf of the World Health Organization (WHO) are not allowed to enter. As the „Wall Street Journal“ reported today, Chinese officials in transit in Singapore prevented two scientists from boarding the plane to Wuhan.
Your health test before departure showed CoV antibodies, which indicates a previous infection. The coronavirus test, on the other hand, was negative, the newspaper reported, referring to informed people. The other members of the 15-strong team arrived in the central Chinese metropolis of Wuhan.
China’s Foreign Office spokesman Zhao Lijian did not want to directly confirm the incident in Beijing. Following questions from journalists, however, he emphasized that the regulations against the pandemic are „strictly followed“.
Two weeks of quarantine
Therefore, the 13 WHO experts who arrived in Wuhan today have to be quarantined for two weeks. In the Chinese metropolis, the origins of the novel corona virus that triggered the global pandemic are to be investigated, as the state television reported around the arrival of the team of experts.
The WHO delegation is headed by Peter Ben Embarek, an expert on animal diseases that spread to other species. The Vietnamese biologist Hung Nguyen is also part of the ten-person team. He told Reuters news agency that he did not expect any restrictions on the group’s work in China.
After the quarantine, the team will spend two weeks questioning people from research institutes, hospitals and the fish market in Wuhan, where the new pathogen is believed to have appeared for the first time, Hung added.
