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China has spread more optimistic data than the early stages of the novel coronavirus outbreak suggested and delayed in confirming cases already diagnosed, according to internal documents of the authorities cited by the North American television channel CNN.
The conclusions advanced by CNN are based on the analysis of internal documents of the health authorities of the Asian country. Total, 117 leaked pages from the Hubei Province Center for Disease Control and Prevention, where the first cases of covid-19 were diagnosed.
In a report marked with the words “Internal document, keep confidentiality”, local health officials list a total of 5,918 new cases, detected on February 10, more than double the official public number of confirmed cases that day. This figure was never disclosed at the time, as China’s accounting system seemed, in the chaos of the first weeks of the pandemic, to minimize the severity of the outbreak.
A report prepared in early March found that authorities took, on average, 23 days to confirm the diagnosis of patients who, at that time, no longer had symptoms. The testing errors also meant that the majority of infected people received negative results on January 10.
The first steps to contain the outbreak were hampered by the lack of funds and staff and complex bureaucracy, complicating China’s emergency system, according to internal audits accessed by CNN. CNN also said there was a major flu outbreak in Hubei province in early December, which was not previously reported.
The documents, which cover an incomplete period between October 2019 and April this year, reveal what appears to be an “inflexible healthcare system, constrained by a top-down organized bureaucracy and strict procedures, inappropriate to face the crisis, “CNN noted. “At various critical moments in the initial phase of the pandemic, the documents point to evidence of clear errors and a pattern of institutional failures,” he added.
Chinese government vehemently rejected the accusations The United States and other Western governments who have deliberately withheld information about the virus. Last June, China’s State Council argued that the Chinese government has always released information about the epidemic in a “timely, open and transparent manner.”
“Making a total effort to contain the virus, China also acted with a great sense of responsibility towards humanity, its people, posterity and the international community. It provided information on covid-19 in a completely professional and efficient manner and published reliable and detailed information as soon as possible on a regular basis.
According to CNN, although the documents do not provide evidence of a deliberate attempt to conceal information, they reveal various inconsistencies about what authorities believed was happening and what has been publicly revealed.
This Tuesday marks a year since the first known patient developed symptoms of the disease in Wuhan, the provincial capital of Hubei, according to a study published in the Lancet medical journal. The revelations come at a time when the United States and the European Union are pressuring China to cooperate fully with a World Health Organization (WHO) investigation on the origins of the virus, which has infected more than 60 million people and killed 1.46 million worldwide.
However, to date, international experts’ access to medical records and data from the hospital in Hubei has been limited. The WHO said last week that it received “The Chinese government guarantees that a trip to the countryside” would be awarded as part of your research.
The files were submitted to CNN by whistleblowers who requested anonymity, according to the television network. The sources said they work in the Chinese healthcare system and are patriots who want to expose facts that have been censored and pay tribute to colleagues who spoke earlier.
The documents were verified by six independent experts who examined the veracity of their content, according to CNN.
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