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DRAMATIC: A corona-infected patient will be transported to a hospital in the Chinese city of Wuhan on January 30 this year. At the time, China was hiding important information about a global pandemic. Photo: HECTOR RETAMAL / AFP
Secret documents that CNN has accessed to claim that the Chinese authorities made mistakes when the danger of the virus was known in February 2020.
Speaking to staff at a hospital in Wuhan on February 10 this year, President Xi Jinping expressed his condolences to the families of those who lost their lives as a result of the publicly unknown coronavirus outbreak.
The president called for greater openness and communication, while increasing concern around the world about the great potential danger posed by the new disease.
On the same day, Chinese authorities announced that 2,478 new cases of the virus had been confirmed, bringing the total number of corona cases to more than 40,000 worldwide.
CNN now claims that official documents circulating internally within the Chinese state apparatus show that the figures were only part of the bigger picture.
A report labeled “internal document to be kept confidential” listed figures from local authorities in Hubei, the province where the virus was first detected.
It showed that 5,918 new cases of infection had been discovered on February 10, more than double the official figures given.
THE NOTIFIER: Dr. Li Wenliang was treated for the Covid-19 virus. On February 7, 2020, his death was confirmed and this photo was published. The authorities withheld information about the serious virus that Dr. Li was trying to warn against. Photo: LI WENLIANG / Social networks
Toned down the seriousness
This number was not immediately revealed because the Chinese counting system, in the first weeks of the pandemic, tended to downplay the severity of the corona outbreak.
The leaked documents are said to have originated from the provincial disease control center in Hubei and were shared with CNN, which claims the information has been verified.
The documents also contain other information that was not previously known.
The documents provide a clearer picture of what the local Chinese authorities knew and when they learned it.
The Chinese government has stubbornly denied accusations by the United States and other Western countries that they deliberately withheld information related to the virus, while China has claimed that it has been playing with open cards all along.
Although the documents do not prove that the Chinese are deliberately trying to hide the facts, they nevertheless reveal a number of shortcomings in what they have presented the facts to the public.
CNN writes, based on the leaked documents, that already a year ago, in December 2019, there was a large and previously unknown outbreak of a flu epidemic in three provinces of China. The largest eruptions took place in Yichang, Xianning. Hubei with the city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the corona outbreak, is said to have been the third province worst hit by this flu outbreak.
MASS TREATMENT: At this field hospital in Hubei province, Covid-19 patients were treated in the early days of the corona pandemic. Photo: STR / AFP
What CNN claims the documents reveal is that in the period from October 2019 to April 2020, there appears to be an inflexible healthcare system, constrained by a top-down bureaucracy and rigid procedures that were not sufficiently prepared to deal with. to a situation of growing crisis.
“At various critical stages in the early stages of the pandemic, the documents present evidence that clear mistakes were made and point to a pattern of institutional weaknesses,” writes CNN.
Serious obstacle
It took more than 23 days from when a local covid showed symptoms until the diagnosis was available. It shows a local report from March, reproduced in the leaked CNN documents. Experts have told the US television company that this was a serious obstacle to surveillance and control of the disease.
China has stubbornly insisted that the Covid outbreak has been handled properly. At a press conference on June 7, the authorities released a full document making it clear that the Chinese government always published information related to the epidemic in a “correct, open and honest manner.”
“By doing everything possible to control the virus, China has also acted extremely responsibly towards humanity, future generations, and the international community. We have provided information on Covid-19 in a comprehensive, professional, and efficient manner. We have released credible information. and detailed as soon as possible on a regular basis, thus effectively responding to people’s concerns and therefore relying on the public agreement, “states the so-called” White Paper “that the Chinese authorities presented on June 7 of this year. .
– It is clear that they made mistakes, and not just mistakes that occur when faced with a new virus, but also mistakes that are due to bureaucratic and politically motivated mistakes in the way they handled this, says Yanzhong Huang, senior researcher in American thought . -thinking of the Council and Foreign Relations in Washington, to CNN. Huang specializes in the public health service in China.
Tuesday, December 1, marks a year since the first known patient showed symptoms of Covid-19 disease in the Chinese city of Wuhan, according to a study by the renowned medical journal The Lancet.
