The team of 10 virologists and other scientists from the World Health Organisation will spend around a month in the Chinese city where Covid-19 first emerged over a year ago.
After spending 14 days in quarantine, the team will investigate claims that the virus jumped from animals to humans in other regions of China before the first cases were detected at the Huanan market in Wuhan.
Last month, the team, who comes from the UK, US, Australia, Germany, Japan, Russia, the Netherlands, Qatar and Vietnam were stopped from entering the country earlier this month.
Some experts had already set off towards China when they learned they weren’t allowed in due to incomplete checks.
Director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at the time: “Today, we learned that Chinese officials have not yet finalised the necessary permissions for the team’s arrival in China.
“I’m 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, but had been in contact with senior Chinese officials.”
The arrival of the delegation comes after mainland China has reported its first Covid-19 death in eight months. The death was recorded in the Hebei province, the main site of China’s worst outbreak in months and where new lockdowns have been imposed on tens of millions of people.
It is the first death from the disease since May
