WHO Secretary-General, Who Supported China, Blocks Entry of COVID-19 Origin Investigation Team: "Disappointed"

"Origin Investigation is WHO's Top Priority"

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO)
[Photo by AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), who has been criticized for defending China, expressed disappointment and criticized China for blocking the entry of an international expert team investigating the origin of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

On the 5th (local time), according to the daily newspaper The Guardian and others, Director-General Ghebreyesus said at a virtual press briefing that he had heard the news that China blocked the WHO investigation team's entry due to visa issues. He expressed disappointment toward China, saying, "Two team members had already started moving (to China), and other team members were unable to move until just before."

Director-General Ghebreyesus added, "I have been in contact with senior officials of the Chinese government and reiterated that the mission to investigate the origin of COVID-19 is WHO's top priority," emphasizing, "We want to proceed with the mission as soon as possible."

WHO has repeatedly tried to dispatch a team composed of international experts and announced earlier this month that it would send this team to China to investigate the origin of COVID-19. The experts were expected to visit Wuhan City, China, where COVID-19 is presumed to have first been discovered about a year ago.

Mike Ryan, head of the WHO Emergency Response Team, said that the team does not want to unnecessarily stay in other regions due to visa issues and other reasons, stating, "I hope this is a simple logistical and bureaucratic issue that can be resolved quickly. I believe these issues will be resolved within the next few hours."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.