WUHAN, China (AP) — A World Health Organization team investigating the origins of the coronavirus pandemic has visited a provincial disease control center that had an early hand in managing the outbreak.
The WHO investigators arrived in the Hubei provincial capital, Wuhan, last month to look for clues and have visited hospitals that treated many of the earliest patients and a seafood market where cases of infection with the then-unknown virus emerged in December 2019.
The team’s visit to the Hubei Provincial Center for Disease Control on Monday came amid tight Chinese controls on access to information about the virus. China has sought to avoid blame for alleged missteps in its early response to the outbreak, while promoting alternative theories that the virus originated elsewhere and may have even been brought to Wuhan from outside the country.
Members of the World Health Organization team including Peter Daszak, left, Ken Maeda, right, and Vladimir Dedkov, second right, prepare to leave for a fourth day of field visits from their hotel in Wuhan in central China’s Hubei province on Monday, Feb. 1, 2021. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan) 
From right, Dominic Dwyer and Peter Ben Embarek of the World Health Organization team prepare to leave for a fourth day of field visits from their hotel in Wuhan in central China’s Hubei province on Monday, Feb. 1, 2021. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan) 
Marion Koopmans of a World Health Organization team arrives at the Hubei Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Wuhan in central China’s Hubei province Monday, Feb. 1, 2021. The WHO mission team investigating the origins of the coronavirus pandemic in Wuhan. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan) 
Members of a World Health Organization team arrive at the Hubei Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Wuhan in central China’s Hubei province Monday, Feb. 1, 2021. The WHO mission team investigating the origins of the coronavirus pandemic in Wuhan. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan) 
A worker in protective gear holds up a thermometer at the entrance to the Hubei Center for Disease Control and Prevention where a World Health Organization team is making a field visit in Wuhan in central China’s Hubei province Monday, Feb. 1, 2021. The WHO mission team investigating the origins of the coronavirus pandemic in Wuhan. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan) 
A worker in protective gear checks the temperature of a visitor at the entrance to the Hubei Center for Disease Control and Prevention where a World Health Organization team is making a field visit in Wuhan in central China’s Hubei province Monday, Feb. 1, 2021. The WHO mission team investigating the origins of the coronavirus pandemic in Wuhan. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan) 
Peter Daszak of the World Health Organization leaves in a car past a row of security personnel at the Hubei Center for Disease Control and Prevention after a field visit in Wuhan in central China’s Hubei province on Monday, Feb. 1, 2021. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan) 
A van from the Hubei Center for Disease Control and Prevention enters the compound as the World Health Organization team makes a field visit in Wuhan in central China’s Hubei province on Monday, Feb. 1, 2021. A World Health Organization team investigating the origins of the coronavirus pandemic visited a provincial disease control center that had an early hand in managing the outbreak. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan) 
A tired worker in protective overalls bends over to stretch at the entrance of the Hubei Center for Disease Control and Prevention as the World Health Organization team makes a field visit in Wuhan in central China’s Hubei province on Monday, Feb. 1, 2021. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan) 
A worker in protective overalls takes the temperature of a woman entering the Hubei Center for Disease Control and Prevention as the World Health Organization team makes a field visit in Wuhan in central China’s Hubei province on Monday, Feb. 1, 2021. A World Health Organization team investigating the origins of the coronavirus pandemic visited a provincial disease control center that had an early hand in managing the outbreak. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan) 
Peter Daszak of the World Health Organization leaves in a car from the Hubei Center for Disease Control and Prevention after a field visit in Wuhan in central China’s Hubei province on Monday, Feb. 1, 2021. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Following the visit, a member of the team, Peter Daszak, told reporters it had been a “really good meeting, really important.” No other details were given.
The evidence the team assembles will add to what is expected to be a years-long quest for answers. Pinning down an outbreak’s animal reservoir, or origin, requires massive amounts of research including taking animal samples, genetic analysis and epidemiological studies.
China has largely curbed domestic transmission through strict testing and contact tracing. Mask wearing in public is observed almost universally and lockdowns are routinely imposed on communities and even entire cities where cases are detected. The latest outbreaks have been mostly in the frigid northeast, with 33 new cases reported nationally Monday in three provinces.
Despite that, China recorded more than 2,000 new domestic cases of COVID-19 in January, the highest monthly total since the final phase of the initial outbreak in Wuhan last March. Two people died of the disease in January, the first reported COVID deaths in China in several months.
Schools have gone online and travel has been drastically cut during this month’s Lunar New Year holiday, with the government offering incentives for people to stay put during the most important time for family gatherings across the vast nation.
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