WHO team visits medics in Wuhan

An international expert team from the World Health Organization has had exchanges with medical workers and early COVID-19 patients in Wuhan, Hubei province, the National Health Commission said on Jan 31.

The team has visited several places in Wuhan over the past few days, including Hubei Provincial Hospital of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine and Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital, where some of the earliest COVID-19 patients were treated, commission spokesman Mi Feng told a news conference in Beijing.

The team, on a visit to Wuhan for scientific cooperation with its Chinese counterparts on tracing the origin of the novel coronavirus, completed a two-week medical observation in quarantine according to local epidemic prevention and control regulations on Thursday afternoon.

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, Mi said.

China will, as always, continue to cooperate with the WHO with an open, transparent and responsible attitude, and make contributions to better prevent future risks and protect people's lives and health, he said.

In a tweet on Saturday, Peter Daszak, a zoologist and member of the WHO team, said:"2nd day on-the-ground in Wuhan meeting with leaders & staff at the famous Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital that treated large numbers of severe COVID cases early in the outbreak. Important opportunity to talk directly with medics who were on the ground at that critical time fighting COVID!"

The two sides have kept exchanging information on the latest progress in tracing the origin and worked together to formulate a plan on cooperation under a broader plan for global cooperation on origin-tracing of the virus.

Before the current visit, WHO expert teams tracing the origin of the novel coronavirus had visited China in February and July at China's invitation.

While the WHO team members were undergoing quarantine in Wuhan, they had exchanges via video link with Chinese scientists and medical experts.

Many scientists believe the novel coronavirus originated in bats and was transmitted to humans via an intermediate animal host, but it may take a long time to make a breakthrough in tracing the process.