World Health Organization experts will arrive in China Thursday to investigate the origins of the coronavirus.
China's government confirmed Monday the team would meet with local counterparts to begin the investigation.
China's National Health Commission announced the arrival of the organization team with a one-sentence statement.
The exact destination of the organization team wasn't disclosed but experts said it was likely heading for Wuhan - the city where the disease was first detected late 2019.
The organization has been negotiating with China for the investigation to discover the origins of the disease.
Last week, organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was disappointed by delays. He said the team of experts from different member countries had been ready to go for some time.
China Foreign Ministry representative Zhao Lijian said the visit was an opportunity for world medical experts to exchange views and findings with local scientists. China is willing to cooperate.
A report from The Associated Press said China had made it a priority to control all domestic research regarding the virus. The report said China's state-owned media had been entertaining theories claiming the virus originated outside the country.
Last year China granted millions of dollars to different local scientific teams researching the origins of the virus. The Associated Press said the government had been monitoring group findings and mandated they had to be approved before they were published.
