WHO head ‘disappointed’ China is blocking entry of COVID-19 investigative team 

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) is pressuring Beijing to allow an international team to investigate the origins of the coronavirus in China after he said they are being blocked from entering the country.

“Today we learned that Chinese officials have not yet finalized the necessary permissions for the team’s arrival in China,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a news briefing on Tuesday. “I am 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.”

He also said he has been in contact with Chinese officials and has “been assured that China is speeding up the internal procedure for the earliest possible deployment.”

President Trump has attacked the WHO for not being tough enough on China, where the coronavirus was first detected. The exact way in which the outbreak began in China remains unclear.

A spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it is still working out the “necessary procedures” with the WHO, according to CNN.