Deep in the lush mountain valleys of southern China lies the entrance to a mine shaft that once harboured bats with the closest known relative of the Covid-19 virus.
The area is of intense scientific interest because it may hold clues to the origins of the coronavirus that has killed more than 1.7 million people worldwide. Yet for scientists and journalists, it has become a black hole of no information because of political sensitivity and secrecy.
Ng Han Guan/AP
A worker wearing a mask peeps out behind construction barrier with a notice depicting a bat and advocating for people not to eat wild animals at the airport in Kunming in southern China's Yunnan province.