The report that explains how the Chinese regime allowed the coronavirus to become a pandemic

A study by researchers at the University of Southampton suggests that the number of COVID-19 cases in that country may have dropped 86 percent if the first steps had been taken. Reporters Without Borders, meanwhile, explained how the process of silencing was to those who warned about the outbreak of the deadly flu.

The head of the Chinese regime, Xi Jinping, inspecting the coronavirus prevention and control
work in the Anhuali Community in Beijing. His government prevented the rapid communication
of the outbreak that was taking place in Wuhan. On the contrary, he censured and punished
those who spoke of a new virus (Reuters)

In a report released in the last hours, the organization Reporters Without Borders (RWB) shows how, without the control and censorship imposed by the authorities of the Chinese regime, the local media could have informed the citizenry -the main victim- much earlier on the severity of the coronavirus epidemic, thus saving thousands of lives and avoiding, perhaps, the current pandemic.

In an analysis published on March 13th, researchers from the University of Southampton suggest that the number of cases of COVID-19 in China could have been reduced by 86% if the first measures, taken on January 20th, had been implemented two weeks before. Based on what happened in the first days of the crisis, RWB highlights that, without the control and censorship imposed by the authorities, the Chinese media would have informed the public long before the seriousness of the epidemic, saving thousands of lives and possibly avoiding the current pandemic.

For example, Beijing forced the social network WeChat - the Chinese regime-controlled WhatsApp - to suppress keywords that alluded to the flu outbreak as the government reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) about the appearance of pneumonia of unknown origin. Indeed, the origin had already been identified. The authorities took valuable weeks to transmit information about the new virus and the significant number of cases related to the Wuhan market. "If the authorities had not hidden from the media the existence of an epidemic outbreak linked to a very popular market, the public would have stopped visiting this place long before its official closure, on January 1st," says RWB.

The censorship was such that it even had as its first victims Chinese doctors and nurses who wanted to alert the population and those responsible for the regime's health system about a new SARS-like virus that annihilated people from pneumonia. To the renowned case of the doctor Li Wenliang, for example, those of Dr. Lu Xiaohong, head of gastroenterology at the Wuhan City Hospital, who since December 25th he could have publicized his suspicions that the virus could be transmitted between humans.

Proof that reporting the danger meant exposing yourself to retaliation from the regime, five days later, the director of the Wuhan Central Hospital emergency department, Ai Fen, alerted to a "SARS-like coronavirus." She and her colleagues were arrested four days later for spreading "false rumors." Chinese censorship then affected the ability of the rest of the planet to cope with what was becoming a pandemic.

"If the international media had had full access to information that the Chinese authorities had on the scale of the epidemic before January 13th, it is likely that the international community would have assessed the crisis and anticipated it better, reducing the risk that the epidemic will spread outside of China and, possibly, preventing its transformation into a pandemic, "concludes the NGO.

Reporters Without Borders listed the most sensitive episodes that marked the blockade of information by Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party (PCC) to its population, before and during the expansion of the outbreak of COVID-19. If they had provided accurate information without concealment, the people of Wuhan would have taken other measures first and then the rest of the world. Especially the scientific community that received several days overdue key data on how the new Chinese strain was composed.

October 18th 2019

The Chinese press may have reported the chilling results of a pandemic drill.

The John Hopkins Center for Health Safety, in association with the World Economic Forum and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, conducts a coronavirus pandemic drill on October 18th, 2019 and alerts the international community to the chilling results: 65 million deaths in 18 months. If the Chinese internet was not isolated by an elaborate electronic censorship system and the media were not forced to follow the instructions of the Communist Party, the public and authorities would no doubt have been interested in this information from the United States, which was made echo of the 2003 SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) epidemic. SARS infected 8,000 people and caused more than 800 deaths, mainly in China.

December 20th 2019

Wuhan City authorities could have reportedly told reporters.

One month after the first documented case, Wuhan City already has 60 patients with unknown SARS-like pneumonia; several of them have frequented the Huanan fish market. Despite the situation, the authorities do not consider it convenient to communicate this information to the media. If the authorities had not concealed from the media the existence of an outbreak linked to a very popular market, the public would have stopped visiting this place long before its official closure on January 1st.

December 25th 2019

Dr. Lu Xiaohong could have expressed his fears to the press.

On December 25th, Dr. Lu Xiaohong, chief of gastroenterology at Wuhan City Hospital No. 5, begins to learn of cases of infection affecting medical personnel and suspects from the first week of January that the infection may be transmitted between humans. If journalists' sources in China were not exposed to severe penalties -ranging from professional reprimand to prison terms- Dr. Lu Xiaohong would have assumed the responsibility of alerting the media, forcing the authorities to take action that did not happen until three weeks later.

December 30th 2019

The media reportedly collected the early warning from the complainants.

The director of the emergency department of Wuhan Central Hospital, Ai Fen, and a group of doctors issue an alert about a "SARS-like coronavirus". Eight of them, including Dr. Li Wenliang, who later died of the disease, will be detained by Wuhan police on January 3rd for circulating "false rumors". If the press and social networks had been able to freely disseminate the information provided by the complainants on December 30th, the public would have realized the danger and would have pressured the authorities to take measures to limit the spread of the virus.

December 31st 2019

Social media reportedly broadcast the official alert in China.

China officially alerts the World Health Organization (WHO) on December 31st, but at the same time forces the WeChat discussion platform to censor a large number of keywords that refer to the epidemic. Uncensored, the WeChat social network, which has 1 billion active users in China, could have allowed journalists to broadcast reports and precautionary statements that contribute to better compliance with standards recommended by health authorities.

January 05th 2020

Scientific means would have previously sequenced the coronavirus genome.

Professor Zhang Yongzhen's team at the Shanghai Clinical Public Health Center manages to sequence the virus on January 5th, but authorities appear reluctant to release the genome. On January 11th, the day China confirms its first death from the virus, researchers leak information on open source platforms, resulting in the punitive closure of their laboratory. If the Chinese authorities were transparent, they would have immediately reported the coronavirus genome sequence to the scientific media, saving the international community precious time in their research for the development of a vaccine.

January 13th 2020

The international community would have anticipated the risk of a pandemic.

The first case of coronavirus infection outside of China, a tourist from Wuhan, is reported in Thailand. If the international media had had full access to the information that the Chinese authorities had on the scale of the epidemic before January 13th, it is likely that the international community would have assessed the crisis and anticipated it better, reducing the risk of the epidemic spreading outside of China and possibly preventing its transformation into a pandemic.

Source: Infobae