China bans WHO access to Wuhan
China has prevented the World Health Organisation investigators from entering Wuhan, the Chinese province largely believed to be the epicentre of the coronavirus.
According to reports, Beijing is avoiding the independent WHO probe, which was expected to take four to five weeks in efforts to avoid being held accountable for the coronavirus pandemic.
“Today, we learned that Chinese officials have not yet finalised the necessary permissions for the team’s arrival in China,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters yesterday at a press conference in Geneva.
“I’m very disappointed with this news, given that two members had already begun their journeys and others were not able to travel at the last minute.
“I have been in contact with senior Chinese officials and I have once again made it clear the mission is a priority for WHO and the international team.”
The WHO's Dr Michael Ryan said that the officials on the ground have not been given visa clearances, with one being sent back home and another staying in a different country until they have been given access to Wuhan.
“We trust and we hope that this is just a logistic and bureaucratic issue (and) will be resolved quickly,” Dr Ryan said.
“This is frustrating and as the Director-General has said this is disappointing. We trust in good faith we can solve these issues in coming hours and recommence the deployment of the team as urgently as possible.”
The independent probe comes after the Chinese prvince of Hebei has plunged into "wartime mode" after an outbreak of 59 cases in the last three days.
Officials have launched mass testing for the 11 million residents, schools have shut and the infections are thought to have been spread through social events such as gatherings and weddings.
The Global Times published a story just days ago saying that Wuhan is hosting "more gatherings" in the New Year and that the "west" should "get used to it".
“More big gatherings like the New Year celebrations, sports events and live concerts will be staged in Wuhan, which was the hardest-hit city in China by COVID-19, during 2021, and the world had better get used to it, Wuhan residents said, calling on some Westerners to save their fellow countrymen following Chinese experiences rather than attacking Wuhan’s gatherings with prejudice and hostility,” the article read.
“When large crowds of Wuhan residents took to streets and launched balloons to celebrate the arrival of 2021 on New Year’s Eve, in sharp contrast with what Western media called a ghost town like Times Square with roads closed but no live audience, some Westerners with jealous eyes were sarcastic about Wuhan.”