Geneva (AFP)

One of the most senior WHO officials on Monday showed his exasperation at those who constantly criticize the agency's expert mission sent to China to try to discover the origin of the Covid-19 pandemic .

"It is a responsible attitude to say that you will not accept a report before it is even written? To say that you have information but that you do not provide it?", Launched, in an annoyed tone. , World Health Organization Director of Health Emergencies Michael Ryan at the WHO bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva.

"We must recognize that at the present time, the international community has a team on the ground," he said, recalling that it is the member countries who have launched the bases.

Mr. Ryan was responding to a question evoking in particular the criticisms of the head of American diplomacy, Antony Blinken, who sharply criticized the attitude of China on Monday.

"Even today, China is a long way from doing the right thing when it comes to providing the information the international community needs, and ensuring that experts have access to China," Mr. Blinken, in an interview on NBC.

"All this lack of transparency, this inability to be open is a huge problem," he said.

A team of internationally recognized experts from different scientific specialties began their field investigation in Wuhan, China on Friday to try to determine the origin of the transmission of the virus responsible for Covid-19 to humans.

After two weeks of quarantine, they visited the hospital where the first patients of what was to become Covid-19 were treated before going to the places where the market was held where the transmission could have been done.

Mr Ryan explained "that there was progress but all the answers could perhaps be found, but maybe not".

"As in any investigation into an infectious disease, over the information you accumulate you get answers. And then that asks more questions, it's a thriller," he hammered.

His colleague, Maria Van Kerkhove, the technical officer at the WHO for the fight against Covid-19, said in particular that the experts will visit the famous Wuhan Institute of Virology, which the Trump administration saw as the initial focus of 'where the virus is said to have escaped.

This visit is ultra-sensitive for the Chinese regime, anxious to avoid any responsibility for the epidemic and also of importance for the WHO, sometimes accused of being too lenient with Beijing.

© 2021 AFP