China is thought to want to take advantage of the WHO Covid-19 survey to prove its transparency, but the process is worrisome.

Upon arriving in Beijing, a team of experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) was isolated for 14 days under China's Covid-19 prevention regulations, forcing them to do some research work from

"It is clear that segregating individuals and working remotely are not ideal operating conditions, but we fully respect the risk management processes applied," said Mike Ryan, the person in charge of the response.

The WHO investigation focused on elucidating the question of how Covid-19 was transmitted from animals to humans.

Ryan said WHO was "very pleased with the cooperation" of China.

The WHO expert group came to China in the context of fierce global criticism for its initial reaction to Covid-19.

Beijing has consistently rejected requests from other countries to allow independent investigators to visit China to study the origins of a pandemic.

However, China is now acclaiming its reaction to Covid-19, praising itself as a role model for the world, and attacking the US "evading responsibility" in the global fight against Covid.

According to commentators Javier Hernandez and Amy Qin of NY Times, Chinese officials are seeking to promote the WHO expert group's visit as a sign of their confidence and strength, especially when compared.

"This is our contribution to global public health cooperation, as a responsible large country," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhao Lian Kien said at a monthly press conference.

Zhao also criticized Washington for withdrawing from WHO.

The administration of President Donald Trump, who is accused of seeking to blame the other party to mislead public opinion from a weak reaction to Covid-19, criticized the WHO investigation in China.

"The whole political context is not conducive to conducting a fair scientific investigation," said Wang Linfa, a virologist in Singapore who participated in a similar WHO study in China during the SARS pandemic.

Wang says this WHO investigation is likely largely symbolic, because the world's geopolitical situation may leave Chinese experts unwilling to share valuable research.

Chinese officials provided very little data from samples collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) collected in December at the Hoa Nam seafood market in Wuhan, which is suspected of being the location.

In addition, although the Chinese government expressed appreciation for the WHO investigation, Chinese officials have yet to provide details of their own nCoV traceability efforts.

Chinese officials and experts also called on WHO to expand the scope of its search to other countries.

WHO officials also believe that Wuhan is the best starting point to scrutinize nCoV's animal origins, because this is where the first human clusters appeared, but will continue to absorb other studies.

The WHO study may take several months or even longer.

Critics say the trend of hastily praising WHO member states makes it easy for many governments, including China, to engage them in political purposes.

Yanzhong Huang, a China-based public health expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, a US-based advisory group, said both Beijing and WHO face growing pressure on a comprehensive investigation of

Huang noted that it is still uncertain whether the WHO team will come to China, including representatives from countries that criticize China, such as the US or Australia, and whether they will have sufficient access to the repository.

"In short, it is unclear whether the investigation will be conducted thoroughly and objectively," Huang said.