International experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) have been denied access to China to investigate the origin of the coronavirus. This was stated by the head of the WHO, Tedros Adan Ghebreyesus, his words are quoted in the organization's official Twitter account.
The head of WHO accused the Chinese authorities of not issuing the necessary permits for the experts to arrive in China. “I am very disappointed with this news, given that two of the team members have already started their trip and the others were unable to travel to China at the last minute,” he said.
Gebreyesus said that he had already discussed the problem with the Chinese authorities and received assurances that Beijing would speed up the procedure for issuing the necessary permits. “We want the investigation to start as soon as possible,” he added.
An outbreak of pneumonia COVID-19 caused by a novel coronavirus was first recorded at the end of 2019 in Wuhan, China. On March 11, 2020, WHO announced that the situation could be characterized as a pandemic. By January 6, 2021, the number of cases of coronavirus infection in the world exceeded 86 million.
Earlier, the deputy national security adviser to US President Donald Trump, Matthew Pottinger, said that a leak from a laboratory in Wuhan, China, is the most likely version of the origin of the coronavirus. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying called these statements a lie.
