In see-saw game, Beijing now says WHO team can visit China

In its see-saw game with the WHO, Beijing on Monday said a group of experts from the World Health Organization are due to arrive Thursday for an investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.

A one-sentence announcement from the National Health Commission said the WHO experts would be meeting with Chinese officials but did not disclose anything beyond this.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether they would be traveling to Wuhan from where the deadly coronavirus was first detected towards the end of 2019.

China has been dilly dallying over the issue of allowing the WHO team to visit the country to gather more facts about the breaking out of the pandemic and has been backing out at the last minute after agreeing to allow the visit. It now remains to be seen whether the visit will actually come through.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had expressed disappointment last week over the delays, saying that members of the international scientific team departing from their home countries had already started on their trip as part of an arrangement between the WHO and the Chinese government..