A group of experts from the World Health Organization are set to arrive in China on Thursday for an investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.

China's National Health Commission confirmed the upcoming visit in a brief statement Monday, saying the WHO team would be meeting with Chinese scientists to conduct joint scientific research on the virus's origin. It's unclear exactly where they will be carrying out their research and whether they will travel to the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the novel coronavirus was first detected in December 2019.

The visit follows negotiations between both sides, with WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressing disappointment last week over delays with the probe.

Meanwhile, China marked one year on Monday since confirming its first death from COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. China's National Health Commission has since reported more than 87,000 cases of COVID-19 on the Chinese mainland, including at least 4,634 deaths, though those figures are believed to be much higher.

A new, more contagious variant of the novel coronavirus that was first detected in the United Kingdom has now been discovered in Russia.

The strain, called B117, was confirmed among four Russian citizens who had tested positive for COVID-19 upon returning from the U.K., Russia's chief sanitary doctor, Anna Popova, told reporters Sunday evening.

After being identified in Kent in September, B117 has become prevalent in London and other parts of southeast England.

Last month, Russia joined the growing list of countries to suspend flights from the U.K. amid rising COVID-19 infections and concerns about the highly infectious variant there.

With more than 3.3 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, Russia has the fourth-highest tally of diagnosed infections in the world, followed by the U.K., according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

Russia confirmed 23,315 new cases and 436 additional deaths from the disease on Sunday, according to the country's coronavirus headquarters.

ABC News' Alina Lobzina and Patrick Reevell contributed to this report.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga declared a state of emergency in seven additional areas on Wednesday, as COVID-19 cases continued to climb.

The latest state of emergency was declared for the prefectures of Osaka, Hyogo, Kyoto, Aichi, Gifu, Fukuoka, and Tochigi.

The move comes one week after Suga declared a state of emergency in Tokyo and three neighboring prefectures due to rising infections and a growing death toll.

A state of emergency declaration gives the governors of those respective regions the authority to ask residents for cooperation in efforts to curb the spread of the virus. There are currently no legal ramifications for non-compliance.

Under the state of emergency, which takes immediate effect and is expected to end Feb. 7 for all 11 prefectures, Suga said governors will ask residents to refrain from dining out and to stay home after 8 p.m. unless for essential reasons. They will also ask companies to decrease the number of employees commuting to work by 70%.

Suga said bars and restaurants will be asked to stop serving alcohol by 7 p.m. and to close by 8 p.m. Governors may disclose the name of the businesses that don't comply, while those that do will be given 1.8 million Japanese yen ($17,000) per month.

Spectator events will be limited to an audience of 5,000 people. Schools will not be asked to close, according to Suga.

Suga's predecessor, Shinzo Abe, declared a nationwide state of emergency relatively early in the pandemic in April, which lasted for a month. At that time, residents were asked to reduce person-to-person contact by 80% and to practice "jishuku," or "self-restraint," by staying at home and closing non-essential businesses.

The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare registered 4,521 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 as well as 51 additional deaths from the disease on Tuesday, bringing the country's cumulative total to 295,257 cases with at least 4,144 deaths.

ABC News' Anthony Trotter contributed to this report.