The BBC reported that a patient in his 70’s, recovering from a stroke at home, was patient “No. Zero,” or the first patient who the novel coronavirus infected in Wuhan.
He had symptoms on December 1, 2019, a week before the December 8 case that Wuhan reported in the past. He never went to the seafood market, which the Chinese government blamed as the origin of the virus.
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Epoch Times, an independent Chinese language news media reported that two documents revealed on the Internet showed that the Chinese government was aware of the “SARS-like” pneumonia in early January this year. The communist government didn’t take serious action until January 20. By then the epidemic had already exploded in Hubei Province.
Image: An Order by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Naval University of Engineering in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, issued on January 2, 2020. It mentioned the pneumonia of unknown cause and requested tight control of people entering the university: they must have their temperature taken and anyone whose temperature was above 38 Celsius (or 100.4 Fahrenheit) was not allowed to enter. Continue reading
Epoch Times, an independent Chinese language news media, revealed a work report from the Hubei Provincial Communist Party Committee Propaganda Department. The report, dated February 15, 2020, was submitted to the Hubei Epidemic Control Command Center.
The report claimed:
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The Chinese report can be viewed at: https://i.epochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2020/02/Hubei200215.pdf
Source: Epoch Times, February 18, 2020
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/20/2/18/n11876354.htm
Bitter Winter, a media that focuses on reporting China’s human rights violations, disclosed that a staff member working for a newspaper in Southeast China revealed that the media he worked for was not allowed to report on the coronavirus outside of the Communist Party’s messages.
His company received the notice from the propaganda department a few days after tgovernment locked down Wuhan on January 23, 2020. The notice stated:
News reporters are not allowed to report on or interview about the true picture of the epidemic, including topics such as insufficient hospital beds or suspected cases in the community. Instead, they should only report how the government sent supplies over and organized epidemic control.
All epidemic statistics must use the numbers that the “Novel Coronavirus Control and Prevention Leading Group” released. All articles must follow Xinhua or the Health Ministry’s news conference. Publishing a message that the government has not reviewed will be treated as publishing a rumor.
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Excerpt in Chinese:
據中國東南省份一家報社工作人員匿名報料，繼1月23日武漢因疫情嚴重封城幾天後，其所在單位接到上級宣傳部通知，稱不准記者採訪疫情真相，如醫院床位不夠，社區出現疑似病例等等，只能報道政府如何調配救援物資，如何組織防範疫情等正面消息以及必要的科普宣傳，以安撫民心。
上級宣傳部門還發布指令稱，所有關於疫情的統計數據都必須按照「新型冠狀病毒防控領導小組」發布的為準，每天的稿件必須按照新華社發布的信息或者衛生部召開的新聞發布會的通知，如果發布未經政府相關部門核實的新聞，就按造謠處理。
「在政府的嚴令下，記者不能到醫院採訪，根本掌握不了官方給的數據是真是假。」該工作人員說，「政府為了保密，連區政府、縣政府都沒有統計數字的資格。」
他還透露說，上級宣傳部的通知和規定都是保密的，至於每天發布什麼報道，都是由當地媒體保密員接聽宣傳部的電話收到指令，記在本上，然後形成統一宣傳口徑。
Source: Bitter Winter, February 18, 2020
China’s state-run media Global Times published an article asking why the United States is very eager to send its experts to China (to help control the epidemic of Wuhan pneumonia.) The article listed three possible reasons that are being discussed:
1. China is concerned that the U.S. experts may grab the “first-hand data” and place the research results from China in their research papers.
2. American politicians are concocting the threat theory of a “China-made-virus.” If China allows American experts to come to China to investigate, it may provide “ammunition” to those politicians.
3. Some experts from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have military missions. They may probe the information about China’s capabilities in biochemical research, such as virus research.
The article vehemently defended China and dismissed the first two reasons. Regarding the third one, the article said that China has always welcomed cooperation in the face of fighting disease epidemics. However, it is also necessary to guard against people with vigilance. The article further elaborated that the CDC was related to the military when it was established. Even now, the CDC is still cooperating with the military. For example, the United States Army Institute of Infectious Diseases Medicine (USAMRIID), the United States Army’s main agency for the defense and response to biological warfare, also has the only BL-4 laboratory that studies high-risk viruses under the U. S. Department of Defense.
Therefore, the article concluded, it is necessary to conduct an investigation on personnel (who come to China from the U.S.).
Source: Wenxuecity, February 10, 2020
https://www.wenxuecity.com/news/2020/02/10/9118426.html
About a week ago, China Newsweek reported that, at the Wuhan Central Hospital (武汉市中心医院), where Dr. Li Wenliang worked previously, over 230 staff members were confirmed to have been infected with the coronavirus. Among them, 130 were hospitalized and over 100 stayed at home under quarantine.
Since January 2, 2020, the hospital has requested its medical staff not to discuss the epidemic openly and not to leave any written text or images that could serve as evidence when discussing the epidemic.
Staff members in different departments, including thyroid and breast surgery, urology, cardiothoracic surgery, vascular surgery, neurology, digestive medicine, and ophthalmology, are infected. Also, many department directors are infected. Dr. Li Wenliang was an ophthalmologist. A deputy director of the Ophthalmology Department is under treatment.
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There have been reports that Gao Fu, the head of China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was taken down because he did not take proper measures in handling the coronavirus. Beijing later declared that was a rumor.
However, Hua Sheng, an economist in China, published a lengthy article on Weibo, to defend Gao Fu. The article was titled, “What If Group criticism of Gao Fu Chose the Wrong Target?” It discussed a serious of events from December to January and described Gao Fu as the highest level warning provider in the communist regime system. It also defended Gao for not going to Wuhan, the epicenter, because Gao needed to stay in his place and position to organize resources to work on epidemic control.
It then asked, “Since the information gathering and the response of the local government and state offices were not delayed, why were there still so many delays and mistakes in the early stage of stopping the virus?”
China Business Network (第一财经), a media established in Shanghai in 2003 that focuses on business information, published an excerpt from the article’s defense of Gao Fu.
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China’s “Xiao Kang” (Moderate Prosperity) website reported that Zhejiang, Guangdong, and Sichuan provinces are working on resuming production.
On February 16, 2020, Ningbo City, Zhejiang issued an “Opinion” order regarding companies’ to resume work. It encouraged companies to hire more people and each company can receive up to 300,000 yuan (US $43,000) in government subsidies for new hires.
Measured by electricity usage, Zhejiang province has substantially entered the “orderly resuming production” stage.
The three provinces of Guangdong, Zhejiang, and Sichuan established a mechanism for the mutual recognition of employees’ health certificates that each province issued.
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