The investigation team's tours of the origin of "Covid-19" include Chinese laboratories and markets

"World Health" experts visit a hospital that treated the first cases of "Corona" in Wuhan

Members of the "World Health" team leave the Hubei Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine in Wuhan.

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The WHO expert team began its meetings with Chinese scientists yesterday, as the team investigating the origins of the "Covid-19" pandemic visited a hospital in Wuhan, China, which was one of the first hospitals that treated patients in the early days of the outbreak.

In detail, WHO experts finally began their field work yesterday in Wuhan on the origin of the emerging corona virus, which is expected to lead them to sensitive sites.

After the UN experts finished a two-week quarantine, they met with Chinese scientists before heading to the hospital where the virus was detected at the end of 2019.

"First visit of great importance," wrote Peter Dazak, a member of the delegation.

"We are in the hospital that treated some of the first confirmed cases of (Covid-19)," he added.

We will meet with the doctors and employees who worked on this matter, to talk frankly about the details of their work.

The World Health Organization has reported that the first visits will include the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Huanan Market and Wuhan Laboratory, three sites believed to be linked to the virus.

The organization said that the team plans to visit laboratories, markets and hospitals in Wuhan.

The team went to the "Chinese and Western Integrated Medicine Hospital" in Hubei province.

And the official media had indicated that Zhang Jixian, director of the Respiratory and Critical Care Department, was the first to record the emerging corona virus, after he treated an elderly couple in late 2019, and CT scans of each showed differences from normal pneumonia.

The team is expected to stay in China for another two weeks.

One of the hypotheses, rejected by China, says that the outbreak was caused by a leak from the government laboratory in Wuhan.

The delays were marred by the WHO-led investigation in Wuhan, as well as concerns about free access to the required places and differences between China and the United States, which accused Beijing of concealing the scope of the first outbreak, and criticized the conditions of the visit, according to which Chinese experts conducted the first phase of research.

Yesterday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said that WHO experts and Chinese experts are working together to determine the origin of the virus, but stressed that the task is not an investigation.

"It is part of a global research, not an investigation," Zhao said at a regular press conference in Beijing.

Tia Fischer, a member of the Danish team, told Reuters: "It is important to remember that the success of this mission and the process of monitoring the origin of (the virus) depend 100% on access to the relevant sources."

In the United States, health officials said that the first two cases of a highly contagious strain of Coronavirus, discovered in South Africa, were detected in South Carolina, and it was found to be somewhat resistant to the current vaccines against the disease.

Health experts said that the arrival of the so-called South African strain poses a new challenge to efforts to contain the pandemic that has claimed the lives of at least 430,000 Americans in 11 months, while the authorities are struggling to launch the largest vaccination campaign in American history.

In connection with vaccinations, the European Medicines Agency said yesterday that the vaccine developed by the alliance of the American companies Pfizer and the German company Biontech did not show any safety problems, a month after the start of the vaccination campaign in the European Union countries.

The agency added that no hypersensitivity symptoms or side effects were reported for people who took the first dose of the vaccine, noting that other cases that occurred after the vaccination were not related to the vaccine.

The agency stated in a report: "The latest safety data for this vaccine correspond to the file of known side effects," adding that no new side effects have been identified.

And combined data showed that the total number of Coronavirus infections around the world yesterday reached 101 million 475 thousand and 956.

According to data from Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg News, the "Covid-19" disease caused by the Coronavirus has caused the death of two million and 191 thousand and 490 patients.

The United States leads the world in terms of the number of injuries, followed by India, then Brazil and Russia.

In the United Kingdom, the total confirmed cases of coronavirus reached 3.75 million cases, and the total number of deaths from the virus reached 103,324 deaths.

The total number of confirmed cases of the virus in France reached 3.17 million cases, and the data showed that the total number of deaths due to infection reached 74,601 cases.

Hungary is the first European country to use the Chinese vaccine

Yesterday, Hungary became the first member state of the European Union to approve the use of the Chinese "Sinopharma" vaccine against "Covid-19", according to the country's chief health official, Cecilia Muller, and said: “The National Institute of Pharmacy and Nutrition has approved the use of the Sinopharma vaccine. ».

It is reported that Hungary split from the European Union last week, granting a temporary license to the Russian "Sputnik-V" vaccine.

Budapest - AFP

China exported 220 billion masks in 2020

China exported more than 220 billion masks last year, according to the Ministry of Commerce, on Friday, equivalent to 40 masks for every person outside China, in light of the high demand for protective equipment greatly due to the outbreak of "Covid-19".

Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce, Qian Caming, told reporters yesterday that, in addition to masks, China exported 2.3 billion pieces of protective equipment and one billion units of "Covid-19" testing equipment last year "in an important contribution to the global battle against the epidemic."

Customs spokesman Li Koyuen said the size "is equal to providing about 40 masks for every person in the world outside China."

Beijing - AFP

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European Medicines Agency: vaccine «Pfizer» showed no safety problems.

The first two cases of the Corona virus, discovered in South Africa, were detected in America.

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