WUHAN, China (NBC) – A team of coronavirus experts from the World Health Organization is getting to work in Wuhan, China, investigating how the pandemic began.
It aims to answer some key questions about the origins of the disease that changed the world overnight.
A year after the alarm was first raised in Wuhan, their investigation is focusing on the first days of the coronavirus outbreak, relying heavily on Chinese data.
EcoHealth Alliance President Peter Daszak said, “The pattern of the outbreak in people is going to lead us to where the animals come in. That’s what we think will happen. So, we’re going to where we’re going to follow the human lead.”
The first stop was a hospital, but a critical starting point on the virus’ trail: the Huanan market that also sold wildlife for food.
The WHO looked at supply chains before authorities closed it, finding out more from those who were there may prove difficult.
A disinfection company that sanitized the Huanan market told said, “These days we aren’t allowed to talk.”
And families of COVID victims, including Zhang Hai who lost his father, say they were warned to keep quiet while the who is in town.
For months, China’s government has tried to sow doubt that the virus started here and has revealed little about samples taken at the outset.
The WHO expects the team to visit the Wuhan institute of virology, a target for theories the virus could have leaked from its high-security lab.
So far, there’s no guarantee from Chinese officials that they can go.
Daszak said, “We’re going to try and get to every important lab that was involved in the early stages of the outbreak. If the evidence is there, we will follow it.”
The lab’s directors told NBC News during our visit there in august that the lab would not be investigated as a possible source.
With the virus largely under control in Wuhan, it’s unclear what the city can reveal now as the WHO team gets started with what they call “the real work.”
A lack of transparency and allegations of missteps in China’s early response to the virus have raised the stakes. The eyes of the world are literally on this team, this city, this investigation, and expectations are high, but we must be realistic, it will take months, even longer, to begin to solve the mystery.
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