Source: Associated Press
Takeaways from internal documents on China’s virus response
The Associated Press
April 16, 2020
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Takeaways from the internal documents:
THAILAND JOLTS CHINA AWAKE
For almost two weeks, China’s Center for Disease Control did not register any cases from local officials, internal bulletins obtained by the AP confirm. Yet during that Jan. 5-17 period, hundreds of patients were appearing in hospitals not just in the city of Wuhan but across the country.
Doctors and nurses in Wuhan say there were many signs the coronavirus could be transmitted between people by late December. But officials muzzled medical workers who tried to report such cases. They required staff to report to supervisors before sending information higher. And they punished doctors who warned about the disease.
The muffling of warnings left top leaders in the dark. It took the first confirmed case outside China, in Thailand on Jan. 13, to jolt leaders in Beijing into recognizing the possible pandemic before them. An internal memo cites China’s top health official, Ma Xiaowei, as saying the situation had “changed significantly” because of the possible spread of the virus abroad.
“THE MOST SEVERE CHALLENGE SINCE SARS”
The memo, on a secret Jan. 14 teleconference held by Ma, shows that Chinese officials were deeply alarmed and had come to a much grimmer assessment than they were letting on in public.
For weeks, officials had stuck to the line that there was “no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission,” calling the disease “preventable and controllable.” But during the teleconference, Ma said that “clustered cases suggest human-to-human transmission is possible.”
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Read more:
https://apnews.com/a75e4e452f5a2d0ecaa241ca2045599e
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