Beijing chief photographer Han Guan Ng and video journalist Sam McNeil scored with exclusive images on a highly competitive story: the arrival of a World Health Organization team in Wuhan, China, to investigate the origins of the coronavirus.
While most of the competition was stuck outside, the AP pair, hauling gear, hustled inside the Wuhan airline terminal to find the arrival gate and grab images of investigators deplaning. Minutes later, they noticed the WHO team waiting outside the terminal, and AP was the only international media to get its own clear images of the investigators on the ground.
In addition, McNeil and Taipei writer Huizhong Wu had prepped a text story. AP’s Asia desk was able to alert and send a 700-word story within minutes of confirming the team’s arrival in Wuhan.
Members of a World Health Organization team arrive on a flight from Singapore to Wuhan, China, as they are processed by staff in protective clothing and directed to a separate exit from the airport terminal, Jan. 14, 2021.
AP Photo / Ng Han Guan