Leaked documents show China mishandled Covid-19 pandemic: report

KUALA LUMPUR – In a cache of leaked official documents, one of the many disclosed information pointed to China not having revealed real Covid-19 infection case numbers as early as February, reported CNN today.

CNN’s report is based on 117 pages of documents from the Hubei Provincial Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

One of the examples found it that February 10, Chinese authorities reported 2,478 new Covid-19 cases but the documents note a different scenario.

Local health authorities in Hubei province recorded 5,918 new cases instead, reported CNN, more than double the figure given by the Chinese government.

It is no secret that many countries, especially the US, have been severely critical of China and the World Health Organisation (WHO). The US has repeatedly accused WHO of dragging its feet on investigating how the outbreak first started.

Other critics have also voiced concern that the agency may have allowed China to dictate the terms of an international investigation into the origins of the virus, which first surfaced in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year, reported AFP recently.

Since then, more than 1.46 million people have died and nearly 63 million have been infected worldwide.

Today marks one year since the first known patient showed Covid-19 symptoms in Wuhan, according to a study in the Lancet medical journal.

China, so far, has rejected these accusations, saying it did not deliberately conceal information relating to the virus.

CNN reported that the documents revealed inconsistencies in what authorities believed to be happening and what was told to the public.

Yesterday, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also rejected criticism over the lack of transparency on its investigations in China, saying that the names of the experts on the team and the terms of reference had been made public.

Further, CNN found that China’s system has an average of 23 days to diagnose confirmed patients, and testing failures meant most received negative results until January 10.

Also, the documents recorded a large and undisclosed outbreak of influenza in early December in Hubei, not just in the city of Wuhan, but in neighbouring cities of Yichang and Xianning.

The documents highlighted that the Chinese health authorities lack preparedness and the Hubei CDC is characterised as underfunded and lacking in equipment with unmotivated staff, said CNN.   

These findings were from an internal audit, which forensic analysis showed was written in October 2019.

The CDC internal report, CNN said, noted complaints over an absence of operational funding and that staffing budget is 29% short.

Now, China has largely managed to break the chain of transmission, with a low number of new daily cases with the occasional small-scale outbreaks.

However, many countries are battling resurgences of the coronavirus.

So far, 12 groups are working on coming up with a vaccine by early next year. – The Vibes, December 1, 2020