A passerby in Wuhan city in China, the 29 September 2020. – STR / AFP
The investigation into the origin of coronavirus was supposed to start in China these days. But the team of ten scientists sent by the WHO on the spot found himself unable to begin his investigation, having not received all the necessary visas from Beijing.
“Today we learned that Chinese officials have not yet finalized the necessary permits for the arrival of the team in China ”, said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of WHO. “I am very disappointed with this news, given that two members had already started their trip and others were unable to travel at the last minute”, he added in a very rare movement of humor to against Beijing.
Agreement and disagreement
The head of the UN agency assured that the departure of the experts, “during the last twenty-four hours”, to China was “In accordance with the arrangements developed jointly by the WHO, the Chinese government and the countries that the team had to cross for
go to Wuhan ”. “We worked closely with our colleagues in China to send the team. And we understood that the team was going to start deploying today, ”explained Michael Ryan, WHO’s health emergency manager, also present.
“I have been in contact with senior Chinese officials and have once again clearly indicated that the mission is a priority for the WHO and the international team, ”he added, saying that he was“ looking forward to launching the mission as soon as possible ”. “I have been assured that China is speeding up the internal procedure for the fastest possible deployment,” he said.
A sensitive visit
Michael Ryan explained that it was a question of visas. “We hope it’s just a logistical and bureaucratic problem that we can resolve quickly,” he said, explaining that one of the two experts had to turn back while the other waited. in a third country.
A little more than a year after the discovery of the first cases in the Chinese region of Wuhan, these ten eminent scientists chosen by the WHO, after a long selection process, must go to China to try to trace the origins of the virus in order to know how it was transmitted to human beings.
But this visit is ultra-sensitive for the Chinese regime, anxious to avoid any responsibility for the epidemic which has killed more than 1.8 million people on the surface of the globe. So much so that the visit takes on the appearance of a secret mission. Its dates had not even been specified, the WHO having referred until now simply “the first week of January”. Despite this last-minute disappointment, the senior WHO official said he was convinced the problems could be resolved in the “hours to come”