---
title: "China Denies Access to WHO Team Investigating COVID Origin"
description: "When World Health Organization investigators reached China for an investigation into the coronavirus' origins, they were denied entry."
date: "2021-01-06"
modified: "2021-01-06"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/china-denies-access-who-team-investigating-covid-origin"
categories:
  - "Developments"
  - "Health & Medicine"
tags:
  - "china"
  - "coronavirus"
  - "covid19"
  - "world health organization"
---

# China Denies Access to WHO Team Investigating COVID Origin

![When World Health Organization investigators reached China for an investigation into the coronavirus' origins, they were denied entry.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/china-denies-access-who-team-investigating-covid-origin.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

The World Health Organization has been working with Chinese officials to plan an investigation into the origins of the coronavirus since July. But when it came time for investigators to enter the country this week, they found themselves barred at the gate.

The problem seems to be that their visas weren't cleared by the Chinese government, [according to the *BBC*](<https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-55555466>). And while Chinese officials are playing it off as a misunderstanding, the denial of entry is a [frustrating roadblock](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/china-censoring-research-origin-coronavirus>) for a probe that had been planned out well in advance.

"I’m very disappointed with this news, given that two members have already begun their journeys, and others were not able to travel at the last minute," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters on Tuesday.

The mission itself is meant to figure out as much as possible about where and how the pandemic originated within China. For instance, the *BBC* reports that [there's some debate](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/patient-zero-coronavirus-china>) as to whether the virus first spread to humans at the Wuhan market or if it that was merely the site of its first notable outbreak.

For now, the scientists are stuck waiting — one turned around and went home while another is waiting near the border, [according to the *Reuters*](<https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-who-china/whos-tedros-very-disappointed-china-hasnt-granted-entry-to-coronavirus-experts-idUSKBN29A28B>). But Chinese officials say they didn't deliberately impede the investigation.

"There might be some misunderstanding," Hua Chunying, spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, told the *BBC*. "There's no need to read too much into it."

Thankfully, Ghebreyesus says things should be back on track soon.

"I have been assured that China is speeding up the internal procedure for the earliest possible deployment," he told reporters.

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)