Two World Health Organization experts will be on a two-day trip in the Chinese capital to lay the groundwork for a larger mission to investigate the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Scientists believe the virus may have originated in bats, then was transmitted through another mammal such such as a civet cat or an armadillo-like pangolin before being passed on to people at a fresh food market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.
One animal health expert and one epidemiologist during their visit to Beijing on Saturday and Sunday will work to fix the “scope and terms of reference” for the future mission aimed at learning how the virus jumped from animals to humans, the agency's statement said Friday, the Associated Press reported.
In an effort to block future outbreaks, China has cracked down on the trade in wildlife and closed some wet markets, while enforcing strict containment measures that appear to have virtually stopped new local infections.
More than 120 nations called for an investigation into the origins of the virus at the World Health Assembly in May.
China has insisted that WHO lead the investigation and for it to wait until the pandemic is brought under control.
The last WHO coronavirus-specific mission to China was in February, after which the team’s leader, Canadian doctor Bruce Aylward, praised China’s containment efforts and information-sharing.
