A team of World health Organization experts investigating the source of the new coronavirus visited the South China Seafood Market in Wuhan, China, on Sunday, with AFP reporting that the team “met with key figures and asked questions to understand the source of the new coronavirus that has spread around the world” under close surveillance by the local government.
The WHO team of experts arrived Sunday at the South China Seafood Market, one of the first places to see a cluster of infections more than a year ago, on a long-planned trip that was closely monitored by Chinese authorities. In the morning, the experts also visited the Baishazhou market in Wuhan, where business has been greatly reduced since the outbreak.
After visiting the South China Seafood Market, panel member Peter Daszak tweeted that the WHO team “visited very important sites, first a wholesale market and just now the South China Seafood Market.
Although a year has passed, Daszak said, “(The visit) was very informative and necessary for our joint team to understand the epidemiology of the spread of COVID starting in late 2019.” Daszak also said the team members met “key people” and asked questions that are important to understanding the origin of the new coronavirus.
Wuhan’s South China Seafood Market has been under lockdown since January of last year. According to an AFP reporter’s eyewitness account, after the panel members entered the barricaded market by car, guards quickly prevented others from entering. The WHO panel of experts did not answer any questions from reporters, and local security officials separated them from others. One member shrugged when asked what he expected from the trip and slammed the car window shut. In addition, sources said the vehicle the experts were in drove directly into the market and other people, including foreign journalists, were turned away.
The team was also “accompanied” by a large number of Chinese personnel to the Baishazhou wet market in the morning. During the 76-day closure of Wuhan, this was the Food distribution center.
The team of experts, who were finally allowed to enter the country after frequent delays by China, were tasked with investigating how the virus was transmitted from animals to humans. The new coronavirus has killed more than 2 million people worldwide and devastated the global economy. Now, while the team is still in the early stages of its investigation, WHO officials have lowered expectations of finding the source of the virus.
AFP also said that China continues to take extremely strict precautionary measures, although official figures in China say the country’s cumulative death toll from the new coronavirus is limited to 4,636 cases.
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