WHO probe into origin of virus may begin Thursday

A long-awaited World Health Organization-led investigation into the origin of the coronavirus is set to start in China on Thursday. The team of scientists arrived in the central city of Wuhan on January 14. The team is expected to conclude a two-week quarantine in the Jade Boutique Hotel on Thursday.

It is unclear what time they will be released from the hotel. The team was approved by President Xi Jinping's government after months of diplomatic wrangling that prompted an unusual public complaint by the head of the WHO. Scientists suspect the virus that has killed more than 2 million people since late 2019 jumped to humans from bats or other animals, most likely in China's southwest. China's Communist Party has suggested the virus came from abroad, possibly on imported seafood, but international scientists reject that.