BEIJING, February 1. /TASS/. The World Health Organization (WHO) plans to make new expert visits to China in order to study the origins of the novel coronavirus, Vladimir Dedkov, deputy research director at the Saint-Petersburg Pasteur Institute and member of the WHO’s mission to China, told TASS.

"[The current visit of WHO experts to China] is the first visit, and not some separate event that would set the record straight," he said.

"Actually, it is just the first visit of specialists. After this, more visits will follow," he noted. "Right now, our task is to estimate the information that we have right now and to make plans for further work," he concluded.

WHO experts arrived in Wuhan to study the origins of the novel coronavirus on January 14, 2021. After they arrived, they were placed on a two-week quarantine, during which they held video calls with their Chinese colleagues.

Earlier, the WHO stated repeatedly that the search for a source of the novel coronavirus should start with the Chinese city of Wuhan. In the summer of 2020, two experts visited China in order to prepare the main mission. As a result of the trip, WHO and Chinese experts drafted a document on the research and the program of activity of the international group led by the WHO.