During the early stages of the spread of the coronavirus in Wuhan City of China, the police stopped people from mentioning it on the Internet.
The Wuhan Police official Micro Blog account published a notice on January 1, 2020:
“Recently, some medical institutes in our city have received several pneumonia cases. The municipal National Health and Family Planning Commission issued a public statement. However, some netizens, without verifying the information, posted and forwarded false information on the Internet and caused an adverse social impact. The police organization, after investigation, has summoned eight persons who violated the law (in posting the information) and dealt with them according to the law.
“The police reminded (everyone), that the Internet is not a territory free from the law. Those who post information and discussion on the Internet must obey the relevant laws and regulations. The police will investigate and punish, with no tolerance, any illegal actions of fabricating and spreading rumors and disturbing the social order. We hope that all netizens obey the relevant laws and regulations; do not create rumors, believe in rumors, or spread rumors; and build a harmonious, clean cyberspace.”
{Editor’s Note: It is a norm in China for the Communist regime to silence voices that do not echo the party’s “main melody” or voices exposing information that the party does not want people to know.}
The first coronavirus case was reported in Wuhan on December 8, 2019. However, China made the issue “low key” until January 20, 2020, when it started to spread to several other countries, including Thailand, Japan, Korea, and the U.S.
Source: Phoenix Media, January 1, 2020
https://news.ifeng.com/c/7sstzV13dEx