12 2GM Wednesday December 2 2020 | the times
News
China hid the severity of its corona-
virus outbreak as the disease spread
around the world by publicly under-
reporting case numbers, according to
leaked documents.
The authorities in Hubei province,
whose capital is Wuhan, failed to quick-
ly diagnose cases in the early weeks and
months of the outbreak with its health
system taking more than three weeks to
return test results, hampering steps to
monitor and control the virus.
The revelations are contained in 117
pages of documents from the Hubei
News Coronavirus Wo r l d
China hid scale of outbreak, leak reveals
Louise Watt Taipei
Provincial Centre for Disease Control
and Prevention that were leaked to
CNN. The coronavirus was first detect-
ed in Wuhan in late December last year.
The documents cover an incomplete
period from October last year to April
this year.
The Chinese government under-
reported the number of deaths from the
coronavirus, according to the docu-
ments. On February 17, for example, the
daily confirmed death toll in Hubei was
196, but the authorities reported it as 93.
On March 7 the announced total
death toll in Hubei since the outbreak
began stood at 2,986, but an internal re-
port listed 3,456. The Chinese Ministry
of Foreign Affairs and National Health
Commission, and the Hubei Health
Commission, did not respond to re-
quests for comment.
Chinese officials have consistently
said that the country has been “open
and transparent” in releasing informa-
tion about the coronavirus.
“The Chinese government did not
delay or cover up anything,” Ma Xiao-
wei, the National Health Commission
chairman, said in June. “Instead, we
have immediately reported virus data
and relevant information about the epi-
demic to the international communityand made an important contribution to
the prevention and control of the
epidemic.”
As well as the inaccurate death toll,
the number of cases was also under-
reported. On February 10 the Chinese
authorities said there were 2,478 new
confirmed cases. Privately, however,
local health authorities knew that the
real number was more than double that
at 5,918. This discrepancy was probably
due to a combination of a highly dys-
functional reporting system and “a
recurrent instinct to suppress bad
news”, according to analysts.
As Europe and North America suffersecond waves of infections, China is
now reporting just a handful of new
cases each day.
The leaked documents also reveal
that testing for the coronavirus was in-
accurate from the start, and that there
were weeks-long delays in returning
correct results.
Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for
global health at the Council on Foreign
Relations, told CNN that “it was clear”
that the authorities had made mistakes.
“And not just mistakes that happen
when you’re dealing with a novel virus
— also bureaucratic and politically mo-
tivated errors in how they handled it.”FILIP SINGER/EPARuffling feathers A protest in Berlin demanded support for self-employed people
Berlin nightclub
swaps fast beats
for rapid tests
germany
The KitKatClub, Berlin’s famous
techno and fetish club, is offering
25-minute Covid-19 tests from Friday
for €24.90. It started the service as it
was almost impossible to obtain quick
tests in the city. The move has won
praise because clubs were accused of
being among the main spreaders in
the spring.spain
The Madrid region has inaugurated a
€100 million hospital for Covid-
patients, but unions say that a lack of
healthcare workers has raised doubts
about how it will be staffed. The
Isabel Zendal hospital, named after a
nurse who led early vaccination
campaigns in the 19th century, was
built in three months. It has 1,
beds, including 48 for intensive care.united states
Healthcare workers and residents of
nursing homes should be the first
Americans to receive a coronavirus
vaccine, the country’s main public
health body said. The Centres for
Disease Control and Prevention’s
advice means that some of the
20 million staff in hospitals and clinics
could be vaccinated by Christmas.north korea
China has given an experimental
vaccine to Kim Jong-un and his
family, according to Harry Kazianis, a
North Korea expert at a think tank in
Washington. He said that the leader’s
and other high-ranking families had
been vaccinated in the past two to
three weeks, according to two
Japanese intelligence sources.France stops
skiers slipping
across border
France will take measures to stop skiers
from sidestepping local virus restric-
tions and hitting the slopes in other
countries during the Christmas holi-
days, President Macron said yesterday.
Downhill skiing is in effect banned in
France for the season to help to contain
the spread of the coronavirus. The
government said last week that ski lifts
would remain closed until January,
even though resorts could otherwise
operate.
Slopes are open in neighbouring
Switzerland, tempting French winter
sports lovers to cross the border from
December 15, when the partial lock-
down is lifted.
“If there are countries that keep their
resorts open, there will be controls to
dissuade the French,” Mr Macron told a
news conference.Global deaths
1,460,
World update
Global cases
62,662,
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
91
Most new cases
US
India
Russia
Brazil
Italy
UK
Iran
Poland
China
151,
31,
24,
26,
20,
13,
13,
11,
112
Source: WHO Reported new casesForeign Staff