Beijing: The World Health Organization alleged that Beijing was blocking the team from entering the country to find the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.
The WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was “very disappointed” with the last-minute hassles from entering China.
Reports said a team comprising 10-strong experts were due to arrive in China this week after months of painstaking negotiations.
Beijing is determined to control the origin story of the virus, which has killed more than 1.8 million people so far and laid waste to global economies.
Worthwhile to mention that the first cases of the dreaded coronavirus were recorded in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019.
Reports said China has so far resisted pressure for a full independent probe into the early days of the outbreak. The WHO chief said some of the team already in transit, but Beijing is yet to grant them entry.
Tedros told reporters on Tuesday that the Chinese officials have not yet finalised the necessary permissions for the team’s arrivals in China.
The mission was hugely sensitive and neither the WHO nor China had until now confirmed when specifically it was due to start. There was no immediate comment from China.
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