WUHAN, China — A World Health Organization team has emerged from quarantine in the Chinese city of Wuhan to start fieldwork in a fact-finding mission on the origins of the virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic.
They were required to complete a 14-day quarantine after arriving in China.
The mission has become politically charged, as China seeks to avoid blame for alleged missteps in its early response to the outbreak.
The team's visit has been shrouded in secrecy, with neither China nor the WHO revealing exactly what the team will do or where it will go.
Questions remain as to whether where the Chinese government will allow the researchers to go and whom they will allow the team to talk to.
Scientists hope that information on the earliest known cases of COVID-19 will help them better understand where it came from and prevent similar pandemics in the future.
The search for the origins is likely to be a years-long effort that could help prevent future pandemics.
