A World Health Organisation team looking into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic visited a research centre in the Chinese city of Wuhan that has been the subject of speculation about the origins of the coronavirus. The team is gathering data and searching for clues as to where the virus first originated and how it spread.
China has strongly denied that the virus must have originated from a research laboratory where the institute built an archive of genetic information about bat coronaviruses after the 2003 outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. It has instead stated a theory that the virus must have originated from the frozen seafood brought into the country from overseas. The first clusters of COVID-19 were detected in Wuhan in late 2019.
The WHO team members were also seen walking through sections of the Baishazhou market, which is known to be one of the largest wet markets in Wuhan. The team was accompanied by a large entourage of Chinese officials and representatives.
The team arrived in China after many rounds of negotiations with the Chinese Government and started their investigation following a two weeks quarantine.
