×

WHO team arrives in Wuhan to probe origins of COVID-19 pandemic

Over 92,313,000 people have been confirmed with the disease across the world

A worker in protective coverings directs members of the World Health Organization (WHO) team on their arrival at the airport in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province | AP

A team of WHO experts arrived in the central Chinese city of Wuhan on Thursday to investigate the origins of the deadly coronavirus pandemic.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian on Tuesday said that the team will fly from Singapore to Wuhan, where the virus first emerged in December 2019.

The World Health Organisation team's visit has become a bone of contention as Beijing, which questions the widely-held view about the virus' origins in Wuhan, had delayed granting permission to it.

China has been proactively questioning the view that the deadly outbreak took place in a wet market in Wuhan where live animals, birds and reptiles are sold and spread to humans. The market remained closed and sealed since early last year.

According to Johns Hopkins University's coronavirus tracker, over 92,313,000 people have been confirmed with the disease across the world and more than 1,977,000 people have died.