WHO team in Wuhan to trace coronavirus

A team of experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday arrived in Wuhan, China, to begin searching for the source of the novel coronavirus. However, two researchers were unable to enter China and remained in Singapore after testing positive for coronavirus antibodies, according to a Twitter post by WHO. Authorities in China required the remaining 13 WHO employees and scientists to complete 2 weeks of quarantine in Wuhan. While the investigation seeks to identify how the virus transferred from animals to humans, the Chinese government has created hurdles, making it likely that a full inquiry could exceed the typical time frame of several months. The researchers come from the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Russia, the United States, and other countries. The team is expected to examine the earliest reported cases of the virus in China and data gathered by China’s Center for Disease Control, “including contact tracing, environmental sampling, genetic sequences, and identification of patient zero,” says Raina MacIntyre, head of the biosecurity program at the Kirby Institute of the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. Marion Koopmans, a virologist with WHO from the Netherlands, says the investigation was a “long-term project.” She adds: “We will put all the scientific information that has already been collected by our colleagues in China together and discuss, ‘What does that tell us?'”