Beijing: Besieged China on Sunday has exonerated itself from global allegations of delay in the declaration of the coronavirus epidemic, affirming that the virus was detected for the first time in Wuhan on December 27, viral pneumonia and human-to-human transmission having discovered on January 19, after which he took swift action to curb it. A white paper published by the Chinese government has given a lengthy explanation to refute the allegations of concealment and delay of Beijing in the declaration of the epidemic of COVID-19 last year in Wuhan. President Donald Trump and leaders of several countries have accused China of not being transparent in reporting the deadly disease, resulting in huge human loss and an economic crisis around the world.
The coronavirus has infected more than 6,800,000 people and killed nearly 400,000 worldwide. The contagion also hit the global economy, with the IMF saying the global economy, which was in a slow recovery, was suffering from a “severe recession” in 2020. According to the white paper, after COVID-19 was identified by a Wuhan hospital in December 27, the local government called in experts to examine the cases through an analysis of the patient’s condition and clinical results, the results of the epidemiological investigations and the results of the preliminary laboratory tests.
“The conclusion was that these were cases of viral pneumonia,” said the statement. Researchers from a high-level team of experts organized by the National Health Commission confirmed that the virus was transmissible to humans for the first time on January 19, a few hours before informing the public and less a month before the experts were alerted to the new discovery of the disease, he said.
Before January 19, there was insufficient evidence to indicate that it could be transmitted by humans, said Wang Guangfa, a leading Chinese respiratory expert who was part of the first panel of experts sent by the NHC in Wuhan in early January. When experts landed in Wuhan, they found that the number of fever patients had skyrocketed during this period, and also found patients without direct exposure to the Huanan wet market where the virus would have appeared for the first time. first time, he said. -run Global Times.
Bats and pangolins were suspected of being intermediate sources of transmission “but the evidence was not sufficient,” said Wang, adding that it is up to science to decide whether the virus is capable of transmission. interhuman, because any abrupt decision could have been. caused unimaginable consequences. Recently, the World Health Assembly, the decision-making body of the Geneva-based World Health Organization, adopted a unanimous resolution to probe the origin of the virus. China also supported the resolution. “After the spread of the community and the emergence of case groups in Wuhan, and confirmed cases have been reported from other Chinese regions, due to the presence of virus carriers from the city, a national program prevention and control of epidemics has been launched, “said the white paper.
From January 3, when the virus was identified as an unknown pneumonia, Chinese health officials began updating the WHO and the United States a day later. The white paper was released after media reports said that while WHO publicly praised China for sharing information, there was considerable frustration among WHO officials at not obtaining the information. they needed to fight the spread of the deadly virus.
