Australia on Thursday urged China to give WHO (World Health Organisation) officials, who are investigating the origins of the coronavirus, access “without delay”. WHO Director-General Tederos Adhanom Ghebreyesus had said earlier this week, that he was “very disappointed” that China had still not authorised entry of a team of international coronavirus experts.
Australia’s Foreign Minister Marise Payne spoke again of the importance of the WHO-convened scientific study and said: “We look forward to the findings from the international field mission to China”.
The novel coronavirus pandemic broke out in December 2019 in the city of Wuhan in China. China has remained elusive about the origins of the outbreak. This has resulted in its relations with the US going sour. Australia too has been another voice, calling for an independent inquiry into origins of the virus and partly due to this, China’s relations with Australia have soured too.
“We hope that the specific dates and arrangements of their visit can be decided as soon as possible through our discussions,” China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told Reuters. “The origin-tracing is a very complicated matter,” she added. “To ensure the work of international experts goes smoothly, we need to undergo necessary procedures and make specific arrangements.”
