Wuhan

After visiting the Wuhan Institute of Virology, World Health Organization experts have closed the lid on a controversial theory that coronavirus came from a lab leak or was made by scientists.

Peter Ben Embarek, WHO lead investigator, said the next step would be to "look at the possible pathways of introduction of the virus into the human population," and for any evidence that it might have made that jump into humans earlier than currently known.

A team of WHO investigators led by virus expert Peter Ben Embarek has visited the heavily guarded Wuhan Institute of Virology to determine the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic. The research laboratory in the city of Wuhan has been the centre of rumours, with public figures like former President Donald Trump and former secretary of state Mike Pompeo claiming the outbreak was caused by a laboratory leak.

"I am looking forward to a very productive day, meeting the key people here and asking all the important questions that need to be asked," so team member Peter Daszak.

A World Health Organization (WHO) team was denied entry to China to study the origions of Covid-19 in Wuhan, citing a lack of visa clearances.

"I have been assured that China is speeding up the internal procedure for the earliest possible deployment," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters on Tuesday, adding that he was "very disappointed" that China had not yet finalized the permissions for the team's arrivals "given that two members had already begun their journeys and others were not able to travel at the last minute".

Covid-19 may have been present in the United States weeks earlier than scientists and public health officials previously thought and before the first cases were publicly reported in China, a new study suggests.

The first Covid-19 case was officially confirmed on January 21 in the state of Washington, a patient who recently had returned from Wuhan. Scientists from the US CDC have published their research in the peer-reviewed medical journal 'Clinical Infectious Diseases, suggesting that "SARS-CoV-2 infections may have been present in the U.S. in December 2019, earlier than previously recognized." Their conclusion was based off routine blood samples collected by the Red Cross between December 13 and January 17, 2019, from residents of nine states.

The Chinese city of Wuhan, where the Covid-19 originated, has successfully tested around 2.4 million people in just two days. The city council had ordered the mass testing with the goal to find hidden carriers and prevent a second wave of outbreaks, as the lockdown in the city has been eased. Wuhan plans on continuing the testing with the aim to test all 11 million residents.

The different city districts of Wuhan have been ordered to submit plans on how to test their whole population within ten days. The city plans to test all of its 11 million citizens while focusing on vulnerable groups and real estate compounds first.

Following the worldwide spread of the coronavirus, originating from a "wet market" in Wuhan on which live animals were bought and sold, China and Vietnam are planning to impose a ban on such markets. The formal bans are expected to be signed into law later this year.

A flu drug named favipiravir, developed by a subsidiary of the Japanese company Fujifilm, appears to be effective as a treatment for the coronavirus. According to Zhang Xinmin, an official from the Chinese science and technology ministry, “It has a high degree of safety and is clearly effective in treatment". The drug has been tested in clinical trials ni Wuhan and Shenzhen. In total 340 patients have been treated with it and on average been tested negative for the virus only four days after being tested positive. In addition, the lung condition of 91% of the patients had improved. This is 29% higher than for patients without the flu drug.

Hospital staff celebrated by taking off their masks together, as the last of the makeshift emergency hospitals to combat the coronavirus has been closed in Wuhan, China.

Five days after being discharged from a makeshift hospital in Wuhan a 36-year-old man, who was previously admitted and treated for the coronavirus, died of respiratory failure. His wife stated that he was not feeling well two days after being back home from the hospital. The Wuhan health commission issued a death certificate that stated that the cause of death was Covid-19.