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The South China Seafood Market in Wuhan, China, is regarded by the outside world as the birthplace of COVID-19 Image: Flip Weibo
After the outbreak of the Wuhan pneumonia epidemic in China, it spread from country to country. So far, no continent has been saved. It has infected more than 91 million people and caused more than 2 million deaths worldwide. Dozens of countries have started vaccinating in recent weeks. However, people will need considerable time and resources to achieve global immunity. The impact of the epidemic on humans and the economy will likely continue. Many countries called for China’s investigation and accountability, and Al Jazeera broadcast news footage from Wuhan, China that was not made public in the days the Wuhan pneumonia epidemic was first reported, exposing how the Chinese government made no efforts to prevent the spread of the epidemic. But it blindly prevented reporters from reporting the outbreak.
China’s Foreign Ministry stated that China immediately disclosed information about the epidemic in an open, transparent and responsible manner, and largely prevented the spread of the epidemic in the initial stage of the epidemic. However, the University of Southampton in the UK believes that if the Chinese government had acted earlier, the number of infections could have been reduced considerably. Al Jazeera noted in the report: “The outside world generally believes that the Chinese government’s lack of explanation and opacity in the early days is one of the reasons why the virus spread so rapidly, causing the century-old epidemic that caused the most 2 million deaths. “
Al Jazeera Investigations: 3 Days That Stopped The World (Al Jazeera Investigations: 3 Days That Stopped The World) aired on the 18th on Al Jazeera. Two Chinese journalists secretly recorded a video to expose Wuhan with a population of 11 million. How did the market go from being indifferent to the epidemic, to panicking and hospitals filling up in a few hours? These undisclosed images were taken from January 19-22 last year, Al Jazeera]smuggled the film out of China. For the safety of the two reporters, their real names will not be released. The show referred to the two under the pseudonyms Yang Jun and Chen Wei. The images and the diaries they took revealed how the authorities obstructed the journalists’ work.
Yang Jun and Chen Wei arrived in Wuhan a few days before the city closed when China officially announced that there were only a few hundred cases of pneumonia in Wuhan. At the time, the Chinese government kept the true epidemic a secret. The two reporters traveled between the increasingly crowded hospitals and went to the South China Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, which was allegedly the possible source of the Wuhan pneumonia epidemic. Although the two worked for the state media in Beijing and had obtained permission from the Wuhan government media authority, they were repeatedly blocked by public security. From the South China Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan to different hospitals, police tried to stop reporters from reporting on every corner. However, the two reporters continued to shoot in secret when the police questioned them and repeatedly claimed that photography was prohibited.
Since the outbreak of the epidemic, nine Chinese journalists have been detained or disappeared. Chinese citizen journalist Zhang Zhan was sentenced to four years in prison for “seeking trouble and causing trouble.” Al Jazeera also asked questions about press freedom, but the Chinese government did not respond. And Chen Wei stressed that some topics cannot be reported in China, such as the discussion of epidemic prevention measures, diagnostic procedures and any content related to the organization and government cover-up. Due to government intervention, he was unable to report freely during the three days in Wuhan. It found that the local hospital lacked both staff and equipment, prompting many infected patients to seek medical treatment. The hospital also hid the truth. Not only did he do it often, the hospital staff blocked him and the police followed him.
When the two arrived in Wuhan on January 19, 2020, the severity of the epidemic was still unknown and it has not been confirmed whether the virus would spread from person to person. People in Wuhan were relatively indifferent to the outbreak. They did not wear masks, thinking it was just a more serious illness than influenza, but had not reached the level of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) between 2002 and 2004. Yang Jun wrote in his diary: “When I arrived, people seemed not to being afraid of the virus or did not care at all. Some people had not even heard … A salesman asked me to remove my mask and said, “Obviously, you are too worried a foreigner. Folks, this is fine. “
Authorities were investigating the origin of the virus. The South China Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan had been closed, but Wuhan and Beijing officials had no intention of revealing the severity of the epidemic. Although the World Health Organization (WHO) was aware of the outbreak at the time, both China and the WHO claimed that they did not know that it could spread from person to person. Just as millions of people were moving and gathering for the upcoming Lunar New Year, the Chinese government suddenly announced the closure of the city. Public places in the city began to close, causing people who had been neglected to panic at night, with almost everyone wearing masks. But it was too late. At that time, millions of people were moving within the country, creating an excellent opportunity for the virus to spread through China, and it will soon spread to the world.
Chen Wei said that, relatively speaking, Wuhan has returned to normal and people do not want to talk about the epidemic, as if that period in history is gone. Chinese media and social media discuss this crisis and also discuss how desperate the world is apart from China, but no one in China dared to speak about the origin of the virus that started in Wuhan or the mistakes made by the Wuhan government in beginning. The discussion is about how well the government controls the epidemic and how the Chinese should be grateful to the government. People feel very lucky and proud to live in China because “that is the only country that controls the virus.” He added: “This may not be true, but most Chinese believe it is.
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