World Health Organisation admits it never probed Chinese wet markets or labs

The World Health Organisation has admitted none of its experts visited the wet market or the Wuhan laboratories during a fact-finding mission to China in February.

Only three of 25 WHO experts who visited China in February even travelled to Wuhan, at the centre of the coronavirus outbreak, the World Health Organisation's spokesman, Margaret Harris, has admitted to Sky News host Sharri Markson, in a special investigation titled What is China Hiding.

The three international members of the joint mission who went to Wuhan were Bruce Aylward, Chikwe Ihekweazu and Tim Eckmanns.

WHO confirmed to Sky News that they did not visit either the wet market or the Wuhan laboratories that dealt with bat-derived coronaviruses.

Ms Harris would not respond to a question about whether they had actually sought permission from Chinese authorities to go to the wet market.

“The focus of the mission was on learning from the response, not looking at the origin, so the wet market, lab, etc were not on the agenda,” she said.

Ms Harris said the disease was rampant and highly-infectious in February so it was unsafe for the WHO experts to travel to Wuhan.

China is accused of bleaching the wet market stalls before any independent assessments could be undertaken.

The fact-finding mission went from February 10 until February 24, 2020.