London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Sunday, Oct 05, 2025

''Misunderstanding'', Says China On WHO's Rebuke For Delaying Covid Team

''Misunderstanding'', Says China On WHO's Rebuke For Delaying Covid Team

"Today, we learned that Chinese officials have not yet finalised the necessary permissions for the team's arrival in China," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
China on Wednesday acknowledged that there could be some "misunderstanding" between Beijing and the World Health Organisation (WHO) over granting timely permission to experts to visit the country to probe the origin of the coronavirus, even as it gave no indication about when it will allow them to come.

In a rare instance of criticism from the global body, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in a media conference in Geneva on Tuesday said, "Today, we learned that Chinese officials have not yet finalised the necessary permissions for the team's arrival in China."

"I'm very disappointed with this news, given that two members had already begun their journeys and others were not able to travel at the last minute, but had been in contact with senior Chinese officials," he said.

Mr Tedros said he "made it clear" that the mission was a priority for the UN health agency. "We are eager to get the mission underway as soon as possible," he said.

The delay by China to finalise the WHO team's arrival is fuelling concern that Beijing is obstructing global efforts to trace the origins of COVID-19, which has so far killed over 1,870,800 people worldwide after the disease broke out in central China's Wuhan city one year ago.

Answering a spate of questions at a media briefing on Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying sought to downplay Mr Tedros' comments, saying that "there might be some misunderstand on this".

"We can understand Dr Tedros and the WHO," she said, adding that the two sides are "in discussions" to finalise the dates.

"We hope the details can be determined as soon as possible. Hope the WHO can understand this. We always have smooth communication channels. There might be some misunderstanding on this. But there is no need to read too much into this. We have smooth communication and pleasant cooperation. I believe it will continue," Ms Hua said.

Asked whether the delay is about granting visas to the 10-member of international experts, Ms Hua said, "We have good cooperation with Dr Tedros. We can understand him, but if you like to visit other places, you need to talk in advance to the other side to discuss dates."

Pointing to the resurfacing of the coronavirus, she said, "There are minor outbreaks all around the world", adding that Chinese experts and authorities are busy dealing with the epidemic situation at home.

"Still we attach importance to WHO's visit to China and we have been in discussions. We hope through our discussions and efforts we can make decisions on their dates and arrangements as soon as possible," Ms Hua said.

China has been proactively questioning the widely-held view that the deadly outbreak broke out in a wet market in Wuhan where live animals, birds and reptiles are sold. The market remained closed and sealed since early last year.

In May last year, the World Health Assembly (WHA) -- the governing body of the 194-member states of the WHO -- approved a resolution to set up an independent inquiry to conduct an "impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation" of the international response as well as that of the WHO.

It also asked the WHO to investigate the "source of the virus and the route of introduction to the human population".

On the COVID-19 origin tracing, Ms Hua said China had candid discussions with the WHO.

"We want to help international origin tracing and studies. We are among the first group of countries that cooperated with the WHO," she claimed.

Ms Hua said China has twice invited WHO experts to come to the country for origin tracing and made the Chinese part of global virus cooperation plan.

"In October last, we had an agreement with the WHO on the international experts team members and then we had frequent interactions and held four conferences via video link," she said.

"We candidly talked about our results in origin tracing. Recently we have been adopting a positive and constructive attitude in discussing the origin tracing cooperation with the WHO. Now the epidemic situation in the world is very severe. In China we are also conducting our work to prevent and contain the virus. Our departments and experts are very busy in this work," she said.

Asserting that the origin tracing is "a very complicated matter", Ms Hua said, "To ensure the smooth going of this work, we need to undergo necessary procedures and make specific arrangements and both sides are still in consultations on this."

China on Monday vehemently refuted the US charge that the novel coronavirus was leaked from a bio lab in the country and asserted that the pandemic was likely to have been caused by separate outbreaks in multiple places in the world.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
×