Dane on WHO team researching COVID-19 origin in Wuhan: Long way to go

Since arriving in January, they have visited the infamous wet market, several hospitals, and the first documented patient, but nobody has owned up yet

Orsolya Albert

Feb 9, 2021

The team of World Health Organization experts currently in Wuhan trying to determine the source of the COVID-19 virus, which includes Nordsjællands Hospital head researcher Professor Thea Kølsen Fischer, have said their mission may take a very long time.

The experts, who arrived in Wuhan last month, have visited the infamous wet market and several hospitals, as well as being introduced to the ‘first’ COVID-19 patient.

The team is ready to present their first hypothesis today, but there will be no definite answers.

It will take time
Fischer believes it is too early to rule out if the origin of the virus can be detected, and she expects this won’t be the only visit the team pays to Wuhan. The experts are working around the clock for now, but that is not enough, she said.

Fischer points out how it took years to find the origin animal of SARS-CoV, which originated in 2003 and subsequently killed 1,800 people.

The tally of the current COVID pandemic stands at over 2 million deaths worldwide, and experts worry that detecting the animal the virus jumped to humans from may take years to find.

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