Government removes China from its official coronavirus death toll comparison list

Authored by dailymail.co.uk and submitted by Pad_Lillywell
image for Government removes China from its official coronavirus death toll comparison list

Downing Street has removed China from the list of other countries it uses to compare the spread of the coronavirus - in a snub to Beijing amid widespread anger at the nation's apparent cover-up of the seriousness of its coronavirus outbreak.

It is another diplomatic attack on China in the wake of Donald Trump's accusations that the World Health Organisation (WHO) colluded with Beijing to downplay its coronavirus outbreak, and global disbelief over China's claim to have only 4,636 dead from the virus.

The people of Wuhan believe the death toll in their city that was the epicentre of the outbreak is 42,000 - not the 3,182 claimed by China.

In America, the Trump administration is ramping up its attacks on Beijing - blaming President Xi's government for letting COVID-19 spread across the globe unchecked while the Communist regime saved face.

Trump is backed by large numbers of Republican politicians amid claims from the US intelligence community that the virus escaped from a lab near Wuhan in an accident involving an intern.

In the graph shared on Friday (pictured), China had been removed from the graph that showed the number of deaths in different countries around the world from the coronavirus

Trump has suspended $500million in US funding for the WHO after claiming it had 'accelerated' the deadly contagion because chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus initially swallowed China's claims that coronavirus was not transmissible between humans.

There is also global outrage at Chinese officials for waiting six days to warn the public after becoming aware that a viral outbreak was causing a rash of deadly pneumonia cases in Wuhan.

While Beijing waited, residents in Wuhan hosted a mass banquet for tens of thousands of people, and millions began traveling for Lunar New Year celebrations.

How China 'covered up' coronavirus outbreak Lab Accident? US intelligence sources have claimed to media that corona virus escaped from a lab in Wuhan. They say an intern at the lab was infected in an accident, which she then covered up before infecting her boyfriend. Chinese officials were quick to blame bats sold at the wet market in Wuhan as the source of the outbreak. Delay in admitting human-human transmission Chinese officials for waiting six days to warn the public after becoming aware that a viral outbreak was causing a rash of deadly pneumonia cases in Wuhan in January. Covering up death toll China still only claims to 4,636 dead from virus. The people of Wuhan believe the death toll in their city that was the epicentre of the outbreak is 42,000 - not the 3,182 claimed by China. Silencing whistleblowers Eight Wuhan medical workers who sounded the alarm on the virus at the end of December were accused of spreading fake news and reprimanded by police.

President Xi Jinping warned the public on the seventh day after top Communist Party leaders learned of the outbreak, January 20.

In the meantime, the Chinese government arrested or silenced doctors and citizens in Wuhan who tried to speak out about the disturbing new outbreak.

Even the mayor of Wuhan suggested in an interview with Chinese state television that Communist Party leadership prohibited him from warning the public until January 20.

By the time Xi issued the public warning, more than 3,000 people had been infected during almost a week of public silence, according to internal documents and expert estimates based on retrospective infection data.

The delay from January 14 to January 20 by the first country to face the new coronavirus came at a critical time - the beginning of the outbreak.

Until Thursday, ministers had been showing China on charts detailing cases and deaths in other countries in the government's daily press conference, comparing them to those in the UK. China's figures have since disappeared.

Before being removed, China was one one of the nine nations included in a 'global death comparison' published by the government, with figures suggesting that China's figures were lower than that of other countries, such as the U.S., Italy and Spain.

Currently, the country's official death toll stands at 4,636 from the coronavirus and has seen 83,901 people test positive for the virus.

However, one study by experts at Hong Kong University suggests that the numbers in the country where the virus is thought to have originated are much higher.

China revised the death toll in coronavirus ground-zero Wuhan, revealing that nearly 4,000 people died from the illness in the area.

In a social media post, the city government added 1,290 deaths to the tally in Wuhan, bringing the toll to 3,869.

Officials said many fatal cases were 'mistakenly reported' or missed entirely in an admission that comes amid growing global doubts about Chinese transparency.

The global pandemic originally emerged in Wuhan. The city went on to suffer the vast majority of China's fatalities from Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus.

The change also pushes the nationwide death toll up by nearly 39 percent to 4,632, based on official national data released earlier on Friday.

Numbers of total cases in the city of 11 million were also raised by 325 to 50,333, accounting for about two-thirds of China's total 82,367 announced cases.

The WHO and its Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus (left, pictured meeting with Xi Jinping in January) has faced accusations that the organisation is 'China-centric' and has been too quick to praise the regime's coronavirus response

The experts claim there could have been as many as 232,000 positive tests in the first wave of the virus, which would be four times its official figures.

World leaders including Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron have hinted their disapproval of Chinese tactics of misinformation amid the ongoing pandemic.

Germany's chancellor urged Beijing to be transparent about the origin and initial transmission of the virus.

'I believe the more transparent China is about the origin story of the virus, the better it is for everyone in the world in order to learn from it,' she said.

With 4,648 deaths, Germany has suffered almost the exact same number of casualties as China - 4,636 - but has confirmed almost 62,000 more infections.

World Health Organization 'colluded with China' in response to coronavirus The World Health Organization has been criticized for putting the world at risk by credulously accepting China's information about the coronavirus pandemic . INITIAL RESPONSE TO OUTBREAK As concern about the crisis developing in Wuhan grew in December, the WHO parroted the Chinese government's line stating there was 'no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission'. The United Nations agency then took another week to correct that statement. EFFUSIVE PRAISE FOR CHINESE OFFICIALS The World Health Organisation and its leader Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus heaped praise on the Chinese repsonse to the virus even as it spread around the world. After a meeting in Beijing in January, Dr Tedros said: 'Its actions actually helped prevent the spread of coronavirus to other countries.' He said he was 'very impressed and encouraged by the president's detailed knowledge of the outbreak.' REFUSAL TO DECLARE A GLOBAL HEALTH EMERGENCY In late January, when the virus had already spread to several countries, a WHO emergency committee debated whether to declare COVID-19 a 'public health emergency of international concern'. However Dr Tedros declined amid Beijing's objections and instead traveled to China, before finally making the declaration a week later on January 30.

And French President Macron has said there are 'things that we don't know about' in China's handling of the coronavirus crisis, joining a growing chorus of doubts about the accuracy of China's claims.

Macron said in an interview published in the Financial Times that China's figures could not be compared to those in free countries.

'Given these differences, the choices made and what China is today, which I respect, let's not be so naive as to say it's been much better at handling this,' he said.

'We don't know. There are clearly things that have happened that we don't know about.'

China's official figures paint a picture of astonishing success in slowing the outbreak, but there has been widespread scepticism about their accuracy.

Macron said there could be no comparison between countries where the truth was suppressed and nations where information flowed freely and citizens could criticise their governments.

China only reported 12 new cases of the virus yesterday, 11 of which were imported from abroad, with no new deaths. In contrast, the UK today announced 4,913 new cases of the coronavirus, with 813 deaths.

The Government has set up a China Research Group to 'promote debate and fresh thinking' over the relationship Britain has with China, which will have eight permanent parliamentary members and additional conservative supporters.

Some Conservative MPs fear inaccurate figures could hinder the UK's response to the coronavirus.

Conservative chairman of the foreign affairs select committee and founder of the research group, Tom Tugendhat, said: 'This data is used to judge the effectiveness of our own response, whether good or bad.

'It's important we are comparing like with like, otherwise our own responses could be distorted leading to more deaths in the UK, he said. 'Clearly No 10 believes the same as the rest of the world — that China's data is unreliable and possibly false.'

Mr Ghebreyesus (pictured in 2015, when he was Ethiopia's Foreign Minister), elected to lead the World Health Organisation in 2017, is facing heavy criticism

The research group is said to be modelled on the European Research Group, the pro-Brexit group that scrutinised Thersea May's Brexit deal that never was, and will take a similar approach to the country's relationship with China.

'There's no point taking back control from Brussels and handing it to Beijing,' Tugendhat said.

Yesterday, China rejected calls for an independent international investigation into the origins of the coronavirus, with experts arguing that information about how it started and spread could help other countries in their fight against the disease.

Chen Wen, one of China's top diplomat told the BBC that the demands were politically motivated and an attempt to distract China from its own fight against the pandemic.

Dr Tedros, elected to lead the World Health Organisation in 2017, is facing heavy criticism, especially for praise he heaped on China's communist party for its response - hailing the regime's 'commitment to transparency' and saying the speed with which it detected the virus was 'beyond words'.

That has led to allegations - mostly recently made by Donald Trump - that the WHO is 'China-centric', a position that the US President has promised to 'look into'.

Trump has threatened to suspend US funding to the WHO until an investigation has been carried out, while suggesting that they withheld information on the virus.

Dr Tedros quickly embroiled himself in controversy at the WHO by trying to appoint African dictator Robert Mugabe (pictured at a conference together in 2017, the year of the appointment) but eventually bowed to pressure and dropped it

It is not the first time that Dr Tedros has been accused of cosying up to China. Shortly after his election victory in 2017, it was alleged that Chinese diplomats had been heavily involved in lobbying for him.

UN records also show that Chinese contributions to both Ethiopia's aid budget and the WHO have substantially increased during times when he was in top leadership positions.

Shortly after his election to the WHO, a report in The Times said: 'Chinese diplomats had campaigned hard for the Ethiopian, using Beijing’s financial clout and opaque aid budget to build support for him among developing countries.'

Dr Tedros - who is married and has five children - was born in 1965 in Asmara, which was part of Ethiopia at the time but is now in Eritrea.

As a child he saw his younger brother die to an infection, which he believes was measles, which he later said spurred his determination to work on health and health policy.

He graduated from university in Ethiopia in 1986 with a degree in biology and went to work as a health official in the regime of Marxist dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam, while the country was ruled by the Derg military junta.

According to the BBC, Dr Tedros then joined the hard-left TPLF - which started life as a Communist party and played a major role in overthrowing Mariam in 1991. It later became part of the EPRDF, a coalition of left-wing parties that ruled Ethiopia until last year.

Dr Tedros (left) became the first African head of the WHO and the first non-medical doctor to hold the role when he was elected in 2017, amid allegations of heavy lobbying by China (pictured, Dr Tedros in Beijing shortly after his election)

Following his election to the WHO, Dr Tedros vowed to reform the organisation by placing an emphasis on universal healthcare at its centre while also increasing funding.

Further UN funding records show that, during his tenure, assessed contributions to the WHO by China have also risen significantly - from roughly $23million in 2016 to $38million in 2019.

China has also committed to a further $57million in funding in 2020, though has yet to pay the balance.

Meanwhile funding from other major world economies - including the US, Russia, Japan and Germany - has remained largely flat or even fallen over the same period.

Dr Tedros visited Beijing himself back in January and spoke with President Xi about the country's response, returning to give a speech that praised the regime's transparency, the speed of its response, and credited it with saving lives both at home and overseas.

That is despite the fact that medics from Taiwan - which are not represented at the WHO since China claims it as part of its country - claimed to have raised concerns about the response as far back as December 2019.

The WHO Director is known for his hands-on approach, often personally visiting countries affected by disease outbreaks - including the Democratic Republic of Congo which was hit by Ebola in 2018 (pictured)

Medics told the Financial Times that they had anecdotal evidence of human-to-human transmission of the virus, something China was denying at the time and a key factor in turning the disease into a global pandemic.

They claim this was reported to the WHO on December 31, but not shared with other countries. China itself did not report human-to-human transmission until almost a month later - January 20 - by which time the disease had began spreading throughout the country and across the world.

A petition calling for Dr Tedros's resignation which began in Taiwan has now topped 750,000 signatures.

World renowned expert Professor Petr Chumakov (pictured) claimed their aim was to study the pathogenicity of the virus and not 'with malicious intent' to deliberately create a manmade killer

It comes after a leading Russian microbiologist claimed the coronavirus was the result of Wuhan scientists doing 'absolutely crazy things' in their laboratory.

World renowned expert Professor Petr Chumakov claimed their aim was to study the pathogenicity of the virus and not 'with malicious intent' to deliberately create a manmade killer.

Professor Chumakov, chief researcher at the Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology in Moscow, said: 'In China, scientists at the Wuhan Laboratory have been actively involved in the development of various coronavirus variants for over ten years.

Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov (left) warned this week against allegations that coronavirus was manmade

'Moreover, they did this, supposedly not with the aim of creating pathogenic variants, but to study their pathogenicity.

'They did absolutely crazy things, in my opinion.

'For example, inserts in the genome, which gave the virus the ability to infect human cells.

'Now all this has been analysed.

'The picture of the possible creation of the current coronavirus is slowly emerging.'

He told Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper: 'There are several inserts, that is, substitutions of the natural sequence of the genome, which gave it special properties.

Veronika Skvortsova (pictured), head of Russia's Federal Medical-Biological Agency (FMBA) has said a 'very thorough' study is needed to determine if the virus is manmade

'It is interesting that the Chinese and Americans who worked with them published all their works in the open (scientific) press.

'I even wonder why this background comes to people very slowly.

'I think that an investigation will nevertheless be initiated, as a result of which new rules will be developed that regulate the work with the genomes of such dangerous viruses.

'It's too early to blame anyone.'

He said the Chinese scientists created 'variants of the virus … without malicious intent' possibly aiming for an HIV vaccine.

Professor Chumakov is also connected to Russia's Federal Research Centre for Research and Development of Immunobiological Preparations.

Vladimir Putin's spokesman warned this week against allegations that coronavirus was manmade.

'In the situation where there is not enough information that has been supported and checked by science ... we think it is unacceptable, impossible, to groundlessly accuse anyone,' said Dmitry Peskov.

Earlier Veronika Skvortsova, head of Russia's Federal Medical-Biological Agency (FMBA) and Putin's ex-health minister, was asked if the pandemic virus could be manmade.

'This question is not that easy. It demands a very thorough study,' she said on Russia's Channel One.

'None of the versions can be ruled out.'

She said: 'We can see that a fairly large number of fragments distinguishes this virus from its very close relative, SARS.

'They are approximately 94 per cent similar, the rest is different…

'I think that we must conduct a very serious research.'

The coronavirus facts China wants the world to forget: Beijing releases a COVID-19 timeline - but fails to include whistle-blowers, Huanan food market and 'the order to destroy all samples'

These are the most crucial events of the coronavirus outbreak in China, each of which has played a decisive role in the development of the global emergency.

Here, MailOnline has listed these findings alongside relevant information in previous reports and the Xinhua timeline.

Dr Li Wenliang, 34, died of the coronavirus in February after being punished for sounding the alarm over the outbreak. The police accused Dr Li and other medics of spreading fake news

Probably one of the most notable stories related to the COVID-19 pandemic, eight Wuhan medical workers who sounded the alarm on the virus at the end of December were accused of spreading fake news and reprimanded by police.

The most famous of them was late doctor Li Wenliang, who died of the coronavirus on February 7 after contracting it on the front line.

As early as December 30, the 34-year-old posted messages to a social media chatting group used by local medics, warning them of 'SARS at a Wuhan seafood market'. His alert came over three weeks before Wuhan went into lockdown.

A statement from Wuhan police on January 1 condemned Dr Li and the others of spreading 'inauthentic' information without proof. Officers said their acts had brought bad impact on society, and they would be 'dealt with' by law, according to a previous report by Xinhua.

This photo taken on April 1 shows medical workers disinfecting a stretcher in Wuhan Central Hospital in Wuhan. Li Wenliang was a doctor at the hospital before losing his life to COVID-19

These events were not mentioned in the Xinhua timeline.

However, the report did reference Dr Li in a listing under March 19.

It said: 'An inspection team of the National Supervisory Commission released the report of an investigation into issues related to doctor Li Wenliang, an ophthalmologist with the Central Hospital of Wuhan.

'Following the report, Wuhan Public Security Bureau decided to revoke the previous reprimand letter and apologized to Li's family over the mistake.'

It did not explain the 'issues related to doctor Li'.

Beijing named Dr Li 'a martyr' this month and mourned for him on the National Day of Mourning for COVID-19 victims.

Although Dr Li was the most famous coronavirus whistleblower, he had been tipped off by a colleague, ER doctor Ai Fen. Read our report about Dr Ai here.

An investigation carried out by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention showed that the virus had been passed onto humans by wild animals sold as food at the market, Xinhua reported on January 26. But its timeline did not mention the market (pictured on March 30)

Since the beginning of the outbreak, researchers and authorities have linked the virus to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, a once-popular wet market in the city of 11 million.

Curiously, it did not appear in the timeline.

One of the earliest connections between COVID-19 and Huanan can be traced back to a statement from the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission.

It claimed that 27 cases had been identified in the market as of December 31 and the city's officials had started to study its association with Huanan.

Some other reports, however, suggested that the very first patient had no connection with the market.

The market was closed on January 1 in relation to the 'pneumonia epidemic' by the local market watchdog, according to a report by state-run China News citing Wuhan Evening News.

Geng Shuang, a spokesperson from China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on March 17 accused 'certain American politicians' of promoting stigmatisation by connecting the novel coronavirus with China. China has been distancing Wuhan's Huanan market from its coronavirus narrative

An investigation carried out by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed that the virus had been passed onto humans by wild animals sold as food at the market, Xinhua reported on January 26.

The Xinhua timeline did not refer to the Huanan market or its connection to the pandemic.

In a listing under January 26, it cited Ma Xiaowei, the head of the Chinese National Health Commission (NHC), who claimed that 'the source of infection is yet to be found and studies are still needed to understand its pathogenicity'.

In another listing under March 6, it quoted a spokesperson from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs who said: 'Though the first case of COVID-19 was detected in China, it does not necessarily mean that it originated from China. We should jointly oppose "information virus" and "political virus".'

Although it remains unclear why the market was omitted from the timeline, Beijing has been rejecting the widely held assessment that Wuhan is the birthplace of the global outbreak after cases started to drop there but soar in Europe.

Geng Shuang, a spokesperson from China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on March 17 accused 'certain American politicians' of promoting stigmatisation by connecting the novel coronavirus with China.

On January 1, officials from the Hubei Health Commission ordered gene-sequencing labs to stop testing and destroy all samples of the coronavirus, according to a report from Caixin. This photo taken on February 6 shows a laboratory technician working on samples in Wuhan

A high-profile investigative report has accused Chinese officials of ordering labs to stop testing and destroy all samples of the coronavirus in the very early stages of the outbreak.

On January 1, officials from the Hubei Health Commission slapped the gag order on some gene-sequencing companies which had identified a new strain of SARS-like coronavirus as early as December 27, said the report.

The date was more than a week before the first patient in Wuhan, a 61-year-old man, died of the virus on January 9.

The Caixin report claimed that some labs in China identified a new stran of SARS-like coronavirus as early as December 27 after studying samples from patients in Wuhan. Pictured, an illustration of the virus released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The revelation was made by one of the most referenced investigative reports about China's coronavirus outbreak, published by pioneering Beijing-based media group Caixin on February 26.

It was shared tens of thousands, if not millions, times on Chinese social media platform WeChat, before disappearing.

An English version of the article still lives on Caixin's website.

Xinhua's timeline did not mention any lab-testing efforts in December.

It said that on January 2, the CDC and the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (CAMS) 'received the first batch of samples of four patients from Hubei Province and began pathogen identification'.

It added that three other institutions began to carry out parallel laboratory testing on January 3.

A team of officially appointed experts said on January 9 that a new type of coronavirus was initially identified as the cause of the viral pneumonia in Wuhan, according to the timeline as well as a previous Xinhua report.

China's President Xi revealed in a speech on February 3 that he first gave instructions on the coronavirus on January 7. A transcript of the speech was published by state media outlet Qiushi on February 15. The picture shows Xi giving a speech at a Wuhan hospital on March 10

It remains a mystery when China's President Xi first learned about the outbreak.

The timeline, as well as many state media reports, claimed that Xi 'made instructions on epidemic response when presiding over a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee' on January 7.

However, an investigation into public government documents and official reports reveals that his speech was not mentioned in any reports until February 15 - which was rare for Chinese propaganda, especially those about Xi.

Xinhua first reported Xi giving instructions on the coronavirus on January 20. Pictured, patients wait for medical attention at Wuhan Red Cross Hospital in Wuhan on January 25

Qiushi, a political theory periodical run by the Communist Party, published the transcript of a speech by Xi on February 3.

Xi addressed officials: 'On January 7, I raised demands over the control and prevention of the novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic while hosting the politburo standing committee of the Communist Party of China.'

This article, mentioned in the timeline, became the source of many reports, which claimed that Xi took the helm of the coronavirus task forces on January 7.

A report by Xinhua on January 7 about the political meeting was titled 'Xi Jinping hosted a CCP leadership meeting' and did not refer to the viral pneumonia in Wuhan.

Radio Francia Internacional branded January 7 as a 'mysterious point in time' for Xi.

A commentary on March 3 said that it was 'very interesting' for a Chinese leader his calibre to have to point out a time reference about himself, especially considering China's 'powerful propaganda machine'.

Xinhua first reported Xi giving instructions on the coronavirus outbreak on January 20.

5. The mysterious 'zero case' days

A picture released by Hubei's Chutian Urban Daily shows residents at Wuhan's Baibuting community gathering for a huge banquet on January 18. The event reportedly invited more than 40,000 families to welcome the Lunar New Year days before the city went into lockdown

Wuhan reported no new cases between January 6 and 17 when the city was holding a series of important political meetings, known as the 'two sessions'.

Nearly 700 officials, lawmakers and government representatives attended the conferences.

By January 5, the city's health commission had recorded 59 cases and no deaths.

The 12 days would have been critical in preventing the virus from spreading, but officials either reported zero new cases or did not release a daily update.

'Like this, Wuhan, a city of 11 million people, missed the key 12 days to block a malignant epidemic disease from spreading further,' criticised Shanghai-based news outlet Yicai in an article from February 1.

Wuhan reported no new cases between January 6 and 17 when the city was holding a series of important political meetings, known as the 'two sessions'. This March 18 photo shows people lining up to pick up pork which was delivered to their quarantined compound in Wuhan

The Xinhua timeline listed 25 entries under the 12 days to give details about a variety of official actions, including the isolation of the first novel coronavirus strain, the development of testing kits and a statement from the World Health Organization on the outbreak.

It did not mention any new cases in the period.

Furthermore, officials of a Wuhan community organised a huge banquet on January 18, inviting more than 40,000 families to welcome the Lunar New Year, reported Caixin, citing local Chutian Urban Daily.

The banquet sparked fears of an impending outbreak among Wuhan residents, who rushed to buy face masks, Caixin added.

The timeline did not mention the banquet.

On the day, Wuhan reported four new cases. A statement said the city had registered 45 cases and two deaths by then.

6. Wuhan mayor admitted slow reactions

Zhou Xianwang, the mayor of Wuhan, confessed that his team had not released information about the situation 'in time' during an interview with state broadcaster CCTV in January

One of the most influential interviews in the early days of the outbreak came from Zhou Xianwang, the mayor of Wuhan.

Mr Zhou confessed that his team had not released information about the situation 'in time' to state broadcaster CCTV on January 27.

Mr Zhou disclosed at a press conference the day before that around five million Wuhan residents had left the city before all forms of transport were halted on January 23.

Mr Zhou said those people had left because of the Lunar New Year as well as 'public opinions'. Nine million people were in Wuhan when it was locked down, he said.

The timeline did not mention Mr Zhou's comments, which were widely reported by media outlets in and outside of China.

Wuhan was locked down between January 23 and April 8 to stop the spread of the coronavirus. The picture shows residents of Wuhan queuing to pay at a supermarket on January 23

Mr Wu, 56, told CCTV that his government would need to receive authorisation from higher-ups before making any announcement regarding the novel coronavirus.

'On one hand, we did not reveal [information] in time; on the other, we did not use effective information to improve our work to a satisfactory level,' Mr Zhou said during the interview which was live-streamed online.

He said: 'Regarding the untimely disclosure, [I] hope everyone can understand. [Coronavirus] is a contagious disease. Contagious diseases have relevant law and information needs to be disclosed according to law.'

He then explained the restriction his government faced.

'As [the head of] a local government, after I receive the information, [I] can only release it after being authorised. [Many people] could not understand this at the time,' he said.

7. The disease is 'largely controllable'

The condition of the patients who suffered the 'mysterious viral pneumonia' was 'largely controllable', reported Xinhua in a January 10 article , citing an expert. The picture shows a worker measuring the temperature of a woman at Hankou Railway Station in Wuhan on April 8

The condition of the patients who suffered the 'mysterious viral pneumonia' was 'largely controllable', reported Xinhua in a January 10 article, citing an expert.

Professor Hu Ke from Hubei Provincial People's Hospital claimed that most patients had developed minor to medium symptoms and some of the earliest patients had recovered and left the hospital.

This article was published one day before Wuhan reported its first death from COVID-19.

It came five days after another Xinhua report said no evidence showed that the virus could spread from one person to another.

The timeline did not mention either article.

Professor Zhong Nanshan, the leader of Beijing's coronavirus expert team, confirmed human-to-human transmission on January 20, according to a CCTV report and the timeline.

The coronavirus pandemic has so far killed more than 81,000 people and infected over 1.4 million worldwide as of writing.

The lockdown on Wuhan, the former centre of the outbreak, was lifted on Wednesday.

An_Anonymous_Acc on April 25th, 2020 at 20:06 UTC »

deaths from "pneumonia" aren't added to the coronavirus death toll

Rom4io on April 25th, 2020 at 20:01 UTC »

What about Russia? 74 588 cases and just 681 deaths

autotldr on April 25th, 2020 at 19:03 UTC »

This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 97%. (I'm a bot)

Downing Street has removed China from the list of other countries it uses to compare the spread of the coronavirus - in a snub to Beijing amid widespread anger at the nation's apparent cover-up of the seriousness of its coronavirus outbreak.

The people of Wuhan believe the death toll in their city that was the epicentre of the outbreak is 42,000 - not the 3,182 claimed by China.

World Health Organization 'colluded with China' in response to coronavirus The World Health Organization has been criticized for putting the world at risk by credulously accepting China's information about the coronavirus pandemic.

Extended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: China#1 Wuhan#2 January#3 coronavirus#4 report#5