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Coronavirus pandemic
ChinaScience

Jitters in China as WHO counts down to Covid-19 origins report release?

  • The findings of a 28-day mission in Wuhan were initially expected to be released last week but were delayed
  • Unnamed Chinese expert quoted in national tabloid as saying ‘politics overseas’ could shape conclusions

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Peter Ben Embarek, a member of the World Health Organization team tasked with investigating the origins of the coronavirus disease visits the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan, Hubei province, in January. Photo: Reuters
Simone McCarthy
As the World Health Organization prepares to release a report from a mission investigating the origins of Covid-19, there are signs of concern in China about what it might say.
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Over the weekend, nationalist tabloid Global Times cited an unnamed Chinese expert who took part in the mission as saying politics overseas could shape the report’s conclusions.

“We can feel that international experts are facing political pressure from some quarters,” the expert was quoted as saying, without elaborating. “We’re concerned that the final report may deviate from the previous consensus.”

The report is the result of a 28-day mission in which a WHO-led team of international experts worked with Chinese scientists in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the first known outbreak of the disease occurred.

The mission ended on February 9 and the WHO said earlier this month that the final report was expected to be released in the week of March 15. The WHO backed off plans for an earlier summary report.

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WHO team probing coronavirus origins in China visits Wuhan wet market at epicentre of virus outbreak

WHO team probing coronavirus origins in China visits Wuhan wet market at epicentre of virus outbreak

Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, said the Chinese media coverage could be a sign of jitters in Beijing about the upcoming report.

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