AP: China has been hiding information about the beginning of the COVID-19 epidemic from the world for almost a week

In the early days, when the Chinese authorities learned that the country was facing a pandemic, in Wuhan - the epicenter of the initial outbreak - a massive banquet was held in which tens of thousands of people took part, a great many of whom traveled freely throughout the country to celebrate Chinese New Year, report AP News.

Photo: Shutterstock

Chinese President Xi Jinping made an official statement on the outbreak of coronavirus in Wuhan only on January 20, on the seventh day after this information became available to the authorities. But by that time more than 3 thousand people managed to become infected with the virus. This is evidenced by the government documents that were available Associated Press.

China is far from the only country whose authorities made a fatal mistake, having lost the most important thing in a pandemic situation - time. The authorities of many countries did not take active actions for several weeks and even months. However, Beijing was inactive at the most critical moment - at the beginning of the outbreak. Attempts by the PRC authorities to prevent panic created the ground for a global pandemic, as a result of which nearly 2 million people were infected with the coronavirus, of which more than 138 thousand died.

According to Zuo-Fen Zhang, an epidemiologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, "if they [the Chinese authorities] had taken action six days earlier, there would have been much fewer patients ... We would have been able to avoid the collapse of the Wuhan medical system."

However, other experts believe that the Chinese government was in no hurry to warn the world public about the outbreak in order to avoid mass hysteria, but promptly took measures, but not making them public.

The six days during which official Beijing was silent about the outbreak of a new disease fell between January 5 and 17, when the National Center for Disease Control did not receive any messages from the Wuhan city authorities, as evidenced by the service bulletins available to the publication Associated Press. During this time, hundreds of patients infected with COVID-19 were hospitalized not only in Wuhan, but throughout the country.

The full picture of what was happening at that moment in China is still not clear. However, according to experts, one thing is clear - tight control of information in China, bureaucratic obstacles and reluctance to report bad news to the authorities prevented the fight against infection at the initial stage of the outbreak. The plot of eight doctors punished for "spreading rumors", which was broadcast on national television on January 2, scared employees of local hospitals.

“Doctors in Wuhan were scared,” said Dali Young, a Chinese policy researcher at the University of Chicago.

January 13, Thailand revealed the first case of infection outside of China. Only after that, the Chinese authorities began to implement a nationwide plan to identify cases of coronavirus infection, distribute test kits, simplify the diagnosis algorithm and instruct health care managers to examine patients. And all this was done in secret from the general public.

In the early days of the outbreak of coronavirus infection, official Beijing has repeatedly denied reports of information hiding, claiming that all data is “immediately” transmitted to the World Health Organization. However, facts show that on January 14, the head of the National Health Commission of China, Ma Xiaowei, held a confidential teleconference with the leadership of the Hubei Health Department, which assessed the situation. The memorandum states that a teleconference was held to transfer instructions from the chairman Xi Jinping, Prime Minister Li Keqiang and Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chunlan to the provincial authorities, but did not specify what the instructions were.

“The epidemic situation is still difficult and difficult, this is the most serious situation since the outbreak of SARS (SARS. - Ed.) in 2003, ”Ma Xiaowei said in a statement.

The teleconference was held due to an incident identified in Thailand and in connection with the possible spread of the virus during New Year's trips of residents of the PRC. Ma Xiaowei added that China published the outbreak information “openly, transparently, responsibly and in a timely manner” in accordance with “important instructions” repeatedly voiced by Chairman Xi.

The document says, among other things: "cluster cases suggest that transmission of the virus from person to person is possible."

On the subject: Thousands of Americans sue China for coronavirus: companies demand $ 8 trillion in compensation

“With the approach of the Spring Festival, many people will travel, and the risk of transmission and spread of the virus is high,” the document says. “All communities should prepare for and respond to the pandemic.” The memorandum also states that “political considerations and social stability” on the eve of the March sessions of the highest legislative body of China are key priorities. Perhaps this is why the Chinese leaders waited six days before releasing information about the epidemic, fearing "rocking the boat" on the eve of the March sessions of lawmakers.

Already on January 15, Beijing organized working groups that collected information and trained medical workers, and also ordered the authorities in Hubei, the capital of which is Wuhan, to begin checking the body temperature of passengers in transport hubs and reduce public events. Instructions for doctors were marked “for official use”, that is, not intended for publication on the Internet and other open sources of information.

However, in words, officials continued to downplay the scale of the outbreak, saying that only 41 cases of infection were recorded. On January 15, the head of the Chinese Center for Disease Prevention announced that "the risk of sustained transmission of the virus from person to person is low."

On January 20, Xi Jinping first publicly commented on the situation with COVID-19, stating the severity of the outbreak, and the main Chinese epidemiologist confirmed that the virus can still be transmitted from person to person. If people were warned about the need for social distance and wearing masks six days earlier, the number of cases could be reduced by two-thirds, experts are convinced.

Screenshot: Speech by President Xi Jinping to Members of the PRC Government Sky News / YouTube

This information indirectly confirms the words of US President Donald Trump, who openly accuses the Chinese government of concealing information about the outbreak, which led to a global pandemic. However, on January 20, when Beijing announced the start of the epidemic, the United States still had two months left to prepare for the fight against the virus.

On the subject: US accuses China of intentionally concealing the spread of coronavirus

Doctors and nurses in Wuhan told Chinese reporters that there are many signs that coronavirus can be transmitted between people back in late December. By that time, the virus had infected patients who had never been to the seafood market in Wuhan - a place where, as experts suspect, the coronavirus could have originated. Then the first cases of infection appeared among medical workers. However, the country's officials prevented the dissemination of information from doctors, punishing them for public reports of an outbreak and artificially inhibiting the diagnosis process. A few weeks after the severity of the epidemic became apparent, some Chinese experts accused Wuhan authorities of intentionally hiding the real situation

“I always suspected that the virus was spreading from person to person,” said Wang Guangfa, the head of one of a group of experts who visited Wuhan, on March 15. He contracted COVID-19 on January 16, shortly after returning to Beijing from Wuhan.

The then mayor of Wuhan, Zhou Xianwan, blamed the nationwide rules for access to classified information. As a result, it seems that the PRC leadership for a long time really remained in the dark about the real extent of the epidemic.

On the subject: Coronavirus in the US and the world: new numbers and data

After the first case was registered in Thailand and the Chinese authorities developed a national plan for responding to the situation, the number of cases in Wuhan immediately began to increase: from four cases on January 17 to 136 in two days. Dozens of cases began to be recorded daily throughout the country.

On January 18, an emergency meeting was held at the elite Beijing hospital at the Trade Union Medical Institute, at which staff were instructed on the need for strict isolation of patients - this happened even before Chairman Xi spoke. Health expert told Associated Press On January 19, he visited a hospital built during an outbreak of SARS, where medical personnel urgently equipped hundreds of new beds for patients with pneumonia.

“Everyone in the field of infectious diseases knows that something is happening ...” said the expert, who refused to give her name, fearing to interfere with secret consultations held in the government.

As ForumDaily wrote earlier:

• A new virus was discovered in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019. In 2020, it covered all continents except Antarctica. On March 11, US President Donald Trump imposed a ban on entering the United States from EU countries.
• March 13 Trump due to coronavirus introduced a nationwide emergency regime in the US.
• On March 11, WHO recognized the situation with the coronavirus pandemic, which covered more than 110 countries. Symptoms of Coronavirus COVID-19 Disease Available here.
• Virologist's tips on how to protect yourself from infection - here to register:.
• Taking advantage of the panic in the society because of the epidemic, fraudsters came up with several schemes to deceive victims of personal data and money. The most common ones can be found here.
• Having succumbed to panic due to a state of emergency, Americans are massively buying toilet paperbut they cannot explain why they need it during the epidemic.
• Trump has signed into law on paid leave due to coronavirus. Who can count on paid leave, read here.
• All Coronavirus News - at our special project.

In an effort to keep its readers informed of the latest news on the situation with the coronavirus, ForumDaily has collected the most recent data on infections and deaths in one text that we regularly update.

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