sharon sanders
Editor-in-Chief & President
posted in its entirety with permission
hat tip Jason Gale
WHO Issues Rare Rebuke to China for Delaying Virus Origins Trip
2021-01-06 05:00:22.838 GMT
By Bloomberg News
(Bloomberg) -- The World Health Organization expressed
disappointment with China for delaying the travel of experts to
the Asian country to investigate the origin of the virus, in a
rare instance of public criticism from the international
organization.
Chinese officials have not yet finalized permission to
allow WHO-appointed experts to enter the country even as some of
them embarked on travel, said WHO Director-General Tedros
Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a briefing on Tuesday. The delay comes
despite months of negotiation and planning between Chinese
officials and the 10-member expert team.
“I am very disappointed with this news given that two
members had already begun their journeys and others were not
able to travel at the last minute,” Tedros said. “We are eager
to get the mission underway as soon as possible.”
The delay by Chinese authorities fuels concern that Beijing
is obstructing international efforts to trace the origins of a
pandemic that has now killed over 1.8 million people worldwide.
Stung by criticism that China initially covered up the extent of
the crisis, state media and government figures have been pushing
the possibility that the pathogen did not emerge solely in the
Asian country.
China Making It Harder to Solve the Mystery of Where Covid
Began
Members of the WHO expert team appear to have called off
their travel for now. “No, luckily wasn’t on the way yet,” Dutch
virologist Marion Koopmans said in a Twitter post, in response
to a question on whether she was facing travel obstacles.
Bloomberg Quicktake
@Quicktake
“I’m very disappointed with this news.”
The WHO team investigating #Covid19’s origins has been
temporarily prevented from entering China due to visa issues,
says @DrTedros @WHO. More: trib.al/Jmq5J1y
Sent via SocialFlow.
View original tweet.
The WHO has been criticized for being too deferential to
China through the course of the pandemic, and has been blamed by
other countries for initially downplaying the severity of the
crisis. U.S. President Donald Trump said last year that the
superpower would terminate its relationship with the WHO unless
it “demonstrated independence” from China.
Top Chinese epidemiologist Liang Wannian, who oversaw the
country’s virus response until September last year, told
Bloomberg News in an interview on Tuesday that the WHO’s
investigation would “begin very soon” in China.
The WHO team and experts from China plan to jointly analyze
data and samples taken from the Wuhan wet market where many of
China’s earliest Covid-19 patients appear to have become
infected, he said.
Liang said he has been working with two WHO experts since
July to formulate a plan on how to conduct the tracing work in
China.
--With assistance from Claire Che and Jason Gale.
To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story:
John Liu in Beijing at jliu42@bloomberg.net;
Dong Lyu in Beijing at dlyu3@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Rachel Chang at wchang98@bloomberg.net
Jeff Sutherland
------------------------------------------------------
China response:
TAIPEI — Responding to criticism from the World Health Organization that China had blocked a scheduled mission to investigate the origins of the coronavirus, Beijing on Wednesday said the two sides were “still negotiating.”
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular news briefing that the issue of tracing the source of the virus was “very complicated” and arrangements were needed to “ensure the smooth progress” of the team of researchers.
more..
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/01/06/coronavirus-covid-live-updates-us/
hat tip Jason Gale
WHO Issues Rare Rebuke to China for Delaying Virus Origins Trip
2021-01-06 05:00:22.838 GMT
By Bloomberg News
(Bloomberg) -- The World Health Organization expressed
disappointment with China for delaying the travel of experts to
the Asian country to investigate the origin of the virus, in a
rare instance of public criticism from the international
organization.
Chinese officials have not yet finalized permission to
allow WHO-appointed experts to enter the country even as some of
them embarked on travel, said WHO Director-General Tedros
Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a briefing on Tuesday. The delay comes
despite months of negotiation and planning between Chinese
officials and the 10-member expert team.
“I am very disappointed with this news given that two
members had already begun their journeys and others were not
able to travel at the last minute,” Tedros said. “We are eager
to get the mission underway as soon as possible.”
The delay by Chinese authorities fuels concern that Beijing
is obstructing international efforts to trace the origins of a
pandemic that has now killed over 1.8 million people worldwide.
Stung by criticism that China initially covered up the extent of
the crisis, state media and government figures have been pushing
the possibility that the pathogen did not emerge solely in the
Asian country.
China Making It Harder to Solve the Mystery of Where Covid
Began
Members of the WHO expert team appear to have called off
their travel for now. “No, luckily wasn’t on the way yet,” Dutch
virologist Marion Koopmans said in a Twitter post, in response
to a question on whether she was facing travel obstacles.
Bloomberg Quicktake
@Quicktake
“I’m very disappointed with this news.”
The WHO team investigating #Covid19’s origins has been
temporarily prevented from entering China due to visa issues,
says @DrTedros @WHO. More: trib.al/Jmq5J1y
Sent via SocialFlow.
View original tweet.
The WHO has been criticized for being too deferential to
China through the course of the pandemic, and has been blamed by
other countries for initially downplaying the severity of the
crisis. U.S. President Donald Trump said last year that the
superpower would terminate its relationship with the WHO unless
it “demonstrated independence” from China.
Top Chinese epidemiologist Liang Wannian, who oversaw the
country’s virus response until September last year, told
Bloomberg News in an interview on Tuesday that the WHO’s
investigation would “begin very soon” in China.
The WHO team and experts from China plan to jointly analyze
data and samples taken from the Wuhan wet market where many of
China’s earliest Covid-19 patients appear to have become
infected, he said.
Liang said he has been working with two WHO experts since
July to formulate a plan on how to conduct the tracing work in
China.
--With assistance from Claire Che and Jason Gale.
To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story:
John Liu in Beijing at jliu42@bloomberg.net;
Dong Lyu in Beijing at dlyu3@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Rachel Chang at wchang98@bloomberg.net
Jeff Sutherland
------------------------------------------------------
China response:
TAIPEI — Responding to criticism from the World Health Organization that China had blocked a scheduled mission to investigate the origins of the coronavirus, Beijing on Wednesday said the two sides were “still negotiating.”
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular news briefing that the issue of tracing the source of the virus was “very complicated” and arrangements were needed to “ensure the smooth progress” of the team of researchers.
more..
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/01/06/coronavirus-covid-live-updates-us/
