Wuhan: Experts from the World Health Organization visited a Wuhan hospital Friday as the fieldwork began in a closely watched coronavirus origins probe that will take in a food market presumed to be “ground zero” of the pandemic.
Nevertheless, the WHO’s emergencies director Michael Ryan sought to downplay expectations of finding the origin of the pandemic straight away.
Success “is not measured necessarily in absolutely finding a source on the first mission,” he told a news conference in Geneva.
“This is a complicated business, but what we need to do is gather all of the data, all of the information, summarise all of these discussions, and come to an assessment as to how much more we know about the origins of the disease and what further studies may be needed to elucidate that.”
The WHO investigation has been hobbled by delays, and there are fears over access and the strength of evidence a year after the virus emerged in the central Chinese city.
The team met…