China denies entry of two WHO representatives according to the state media after the team arrived in Wuhan on Thursday. The team arrives to investigate the source of the virus alongside Chinese scientists.
China Denies Entry of Two WHO Representatives
The government of China has fought back against the repercussions of Covid-19 coming from China. Following the height of the country's outbreak early last year, subsequent cases were traced to international sources by the authorities.
Since May, the first new Covid-19 death was confirmed by Mainland China on Thursday as authorities try to monitor an increase in cases just outside of Beijing.
On Thursday, no specifics of China's 4,635th death were given, except that the individual was in Hebei Province, the leading site of China's worst outbreak in months and tens of millions of people new lockdowns. It is the first death since May from the disease.
Chinese National Health Commission recorded 138 new confirmed Covid-19 cases and 78 new asymptomatic patients, which they count separately. Since March, China's highest regular count comes weeks before the beginning of the busy holiday season for the lunar new year.
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On the same day Thursday, the World Health Organization tasked to trace the roots of Covid-19 got off to a rocky start, and with 15-person delegation, China denies entry of two WHO representatives while refusing access to China after failing to clear protocols for health screening.
After testing positive for Covid-19 antibodies in blood-based serology tests during transit in Singapore, two delegations from boarding a plane to Wuhan, China denies entry of two WHO representatives. In contrast, they tested negative for Covid-19 in swab tests, Dow Jones wrote, citing unidentified persons familiar with it. The WHO subsequently reported that two scientists in the city-state were stranded, as a video showed the others are arriving around noon in Wuhan.
Spokesman Zhao Lijian of the Chinese Foreign Ministry sidestepped questions about the two scientists who were refused entry and how long the group members will be put into quarantine, but said their visas would be valid "long enough for them to perform their work in China." The Global Times, backed by the Communist Party, announced that the quarantine period would last 14 days earlier.
Virus Specialis is from the United States, Australia, Germany, Japan, Britain, Russia, the Netherlands, Qatar, and Vietnam are part of the WHO team.
"The international experts team will undergo quarantine in Wuhan, during which time they will conduct a video conference with Chinese experts," Zhao told a regular briefing in Beijing on Thursday afternoon.
The rest of the team will immediately begin consultation via video link with Chinese counterparts while completing the quarantine. While Chine denies entry of the two WHO representatives, they must finish quarantine and protocols for safety purposes.
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In a media briefing, the experts will collaborate with Chinese scientists to identify the pandemic's origins. They still store the strains for research and study purposes, said Ihor Perehinets, a technical advisor at the WHO's European office. His remarks came in answer to a query about how the team would be able to locate the source after a year had passed after the outbreak started.
As for the investigation itself, the on-the-ground fieldwork in Wuhan is performed by Chinese scientists, with the ten visiting experts mainly observing and assessing it.
A Chinese government spokesman said the WHO team would "exchange views" with Chinese scientists this week but never gave any hint as to whether the evidence would be permitted to be collected.
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