Chinese CDC Official Helps To Counter Western Claptrap about Chinese Coverup of COVID-19 Outbreak

April 10, 2020 (EIRNS)—Interviewed by CGTN’s Tian Wei on her World Insight program, Dr. Wu Zunyou from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention refuted the bogus arguments being put forward by our neo-cons regarding alleged Chinese failure to report the extent of the epidemic. Dr. Wu noted that the first indication that they were dealing with something new in the few cases of pneumonia that were appearing in Wuhan, was on Dec. 23. On Dec. 30, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission issued an urgent notification to medical institutions under its jurisdiction, ordering efforts to appropriately treat patients with pneumonia of unknown cause. On Dec. 31, China’s National Health Commission (NHC) had sent down an expert team to guide the response to an epidemic, with 27 cases reported. At the same time, it sent out information to Wuhan residents not to go to public places or to gather in large groups, and suggested wearing face-masks.

By Jan. 3, the NHC had issued guidelines for dealing with this new unknown virus and training people for implementing these guidelines. On Jan. 4, the head of China’s CDC talked over the phone with his U.S. counterpart about the developments. The Chinese were also in direct contact with the World Health Organization (WHO) with regard to the outbreak. By Jan. 7, the Chinese had succeeded in isolating the first novel coronavirus strain, which, Dr. Wu noted, was in record time for viral identification, which was taken note of by the WHO.

Questioned about the accuracy of the figures that China was issuing, Dr. Wu said that China has been issuing the most accurate figures on the epidemic. Tian Wei asked him if he was saying that because he was working for the Chinese CDC. Laughing, and said “No. The fact of the matter is that the reporting system is on a national database, and every hospital has the duty to report the figures as they come in. So, they are the most accurate.”