Tedros Adhanom says WHO expects to fix dates for China COVID-19 mission 'as soon as next week'

World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news briefing on Friday he expects to fix travel dates as soon as next week for a long-awaited mission to China to investigate the origins of the novel coronavirus.

Tedros had said earlier this week he was "very disappointed" that China had still not authorised the entry of a team of international experts to probe early cases of COVID-19.

The virus is believed to have first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019. It has since spread globally, infecting nearly 88 million people and killing around 1.9 million, Reuters calculations show.