WHO intl expert team visits key venues in Wuhan

An international expert team from the World Health Organization has visited a number of key venues in Wuhan, Hubei province, in recent days, including food markets, disease control centers and a research institution, according to the National Health Commission.

Mi Feng, spokesman for the commission, said on Friday that the team has visited the Wuhan Baishazhou Agricultural Market, the Huanan Seafood Market, the Wuhan Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the Hubei Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the Hubei Provincial Center for Animal Disease Control and Prevention, as well as the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Wuhan Institute of Virology.

The team has also held talks with experts from the Wuhan Blood Center and Huazhong Agricultural University, he added.

The team is having productive talks with its Chinese counterparts, Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO technical lead for COVID-19, said on Monday, according to Reuters.

"They are having very productive discussions with Chinese counterparts, visiting different hospitals ... a very good visit" to a marketplace, she told a virtual briefing in Geneva.

The visiting team arrived in Wuhan on Jan 14 and began field visits on Jan 28 after completing the mandatory 14-day quarantine required for inbound travelers.