Geneva, January 5: The World Health Organisation (WHO) Chief on Tuesday expressed disappointment as China has not finalised permission for the arrival of a team of experts into the country for examining origins of COVID-19. WHO Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that he was “disappointed” as members of the team have left their homes and permission has not yet been finalised by Chinese officials. China Denies Coronavirus Leaked from Wuhan Lab, Says Global Outbreaks Caused Pandemic.

“Today, we learned that Chinese officials have not yet finalised the necessary permissions for the team’s arrival in China,” reported global news agency Associated Press quoting the WHO Chief as saying. Ghebreyesus further added that he was disappointed with the news.

According to the WHO Chief, two members of the team had already begun their journeys and were not able to travel at the very last minute as China has not finalised the permission for arrival. Notably, the WHO and the Chinese government had signed an agreement for giving permission to the international team for examining the origin of COVID-19.

In the annual meeting of the World Health Assembly (WHA), which was held in May this year, passed a unanimous resolution to probe the origin of the virus. The WHA is the decision-making body of the Geneva-based WHO. China had also backed the resolution. WHO to Send International Team to China For Probing Origin of COVID-19, Says Report.

The first case of coronavirus was detected in China’s Hubei province. On November 17, 2019, a 55-year-old from Hubei province was reportedly the first person to be infected by coronavirus.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 06, 2021 12:09 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).