BEIJING (AP)– After a two-week quarantine, the real work can begin.
A World Health Company team of scientists has actually emerged from their hotel for the very first time since their arrival in the main Chinese city of Wuhan to begin searching for hints into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The visit has been shrouded in secrecy: The WHO tweeted Thursday a few information of what they will do, however it’s unidentified how much gain access to China will provide the scientists to the websites they want to go to and individuals they wish to talk with.
WHY IS THE TEAM IN CHINA?
Researchers hope that info on the earliest known cases of the new coronavirus– which was first recognized in Wuhan– will assist them much better comprehend where it originated from and prevent comparable pandemics in the future.
Researchers around the world are eager for access to samples taken from the Huanan Seafood Market, which had an early outbreak, and Wuhan healthcare facility records.
The WHO said in its tweets that the group would satisfy with Chinese researchers on Friday before beginning field check outs in and around Wuhan.
A lab at the Wuhan Institute of Virology that was constructed after the 2003 SARS pandemic keeps a comprehensive archive of genetic sequences of bat coronaviruses. U.S. officials in the previous Trump administration recommended without using evidence that the infection could have escaped from the institute.
Professionals state it’s unlikely the brand-new coronavirus emerged from the laboratory in Wuhan and overwhelmingly state analysis of the new coronavirus’s genome eliminate the possibility that it was crafted by people.
The market and other places where early cases emerged remain essential because the virus is constantly progressing, as the new versions recognized in the UK and South Africa program.
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WHAT DO SCIENTISTS WANT TO LEARN?
Wuhan is where COVID-19 cases were first discovered, however it is highly possible the virus came to the commercial city of 11 million individuals from elsewhere.
Genetic sequencing reveals the brand-new coronavirus started in bats and likely leapt to another animal before infecting people. The infection that is the closest recognized relative of the one that causes COVID-19 has actually been discovered in bats in a mine shaft nearly 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) southwest of Wuhan, near China’s border with Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam. The Associated Press was obstructed from visiting the mine.
Individuals began falling ill in Wuhan in December 2019, and lots of had links to the seafood market. Researchers initially presumed the virus originated from wild animals cost the market, triggering China to crackdown on the wildlife trade.
But the subsequent discovery of earlier cases challenged that theory.
Studying the genes of the earliest recognized cases in Wuhan could offer clues to how it received from bats to individuals and whether it was through a mammal such as a bamboo rat or a civet.
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WHAT OBSTACLES DOES THE TEAM FACE?
The big concern is what China will permit the scientists see and do. The ruling Communist Celebration is worried the research study could clarify its handling of the virus that could open it as much as international criticism– and even demands for financial compensation if it is found to have been irresponsible.
China has actually suppressed independent reports about the outbreak in the house and published little details on its research study into the origins of the virus. An AP investigation found that the government has strictly managed all COVID-19- associated research and forbids scientists from speaking to the media.
Another AP investigation found WHO authorities independently complained that China had actually dragged its feet on sharing vital details about the outbreak, consisting of the brand-new virus’s genetic sequence, even as the U.N. health firm openly praised China for what it called a speedy response.
China, stung by grievances it permitted the disease to spread, has suggested the infection might have come from abroad.
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WHEN WILL We Understand THE RESPONSES?
The search for the origins of COVID-19 is likely to take years.
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