China & WHO's Deception AdventureI'll put it simply:
* China lied and hid critical information;
* WHO aided China's lie;
* Between them, China and WHO cost the world at least 7 weeks of valuable preparation time;
* China allowed travellers to continue spreading Covid-19 outside of China for at least two weeks after shutting down domestic travel out of Wuhan and Hubei Province.
China did not notify the world about the Wuhan outbreak in a timely way. Updated 5/2/2024
Late summer and early fall 2019 (September/October) - Satellite picture showed a large spike in auto traffic around Wuhan hospitals indicating some sort of significant health-related event;
https://abcnews.go.com/International/satellite-data-suggests-coronavirus-hit-china-earlier-researchers/story?id=71123270 ,
https://www.theepochtimes.com/china-saw-covid-19-like-patients-months-before-official-timeline-internal-documents_3537965.html (behind email wall)
October 7-24, 2019 - No cellphone activity detected in a high security area of the Wuhan Institute of Virology; this suggests the possibility of a contamination event that triggered a shutdown for decontamination; this may or may not be relevant to the outbreak in Wuhan, but the it is possible that this was the origin of the outbreak;
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/report-says-cellphone-data-suggests-october-shutdown-wuhan-lab-experts-n1202716December 1, 2019 - Pneumonia patients in study published by Lancet, earliest illness onset;
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30183-5/fulltext ,
https://www.theepochtimes.com/china-saw-covid-19-like-patients-months-before-official-timeline-internal-documents_3537965.htmlDecember 8, 2019 - Pneumonia patients in study published by NEJM, earliest illness onset;
https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMoa2001316 ,
https://weekly.chinacdc.cn/en/article/id/e53946e2-c6c4-41e9-9a9b-fea8db1a8f51December 12, 2019 - Pneumonia patients in study published by NEJM, at least one early admission;
https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMoa2001316December 16, 2019 - Pneumonia patients studied by Lancet, at least one early admission;
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30183-5/fulltextDecember 30, 2019 (12/31, China) - Wuhan Municipal Health Commission issued an "urgent notice" intended only for medical institutions in Wuhan ordering hospitals to compile statistics on all cases of pneumonia of unknown cause admitted in the previous week and report them by email, 3:10 PM, China time; the notice is leaked online within 12 minutes; Wuhan Municipal Health Commission issued a second "urgent notice" to medical institutions, instructing them on how to manage patients, 6:50 PM, China time; the notice is leaked online within 10 minutes;
https://www.bjnews.com.cn/news/2019/12/31/668421.html ,
https://www.ccdi.gov.cn/toutiao/202003/t20200319_213880.html (both, Chinese language; China is on the other side of the International dateline)
December 31, 2019 - WHO headquarters in Geneva found a translation of a Chinese news report on ProMED about the outbreak in Wuhan, requested WHO China Country Office to follow up with Chinese authorities; WHO's China office found a Wuhan Municipal Health Commission media statement about the outbreak in Wuhan; December 31, 2019;
https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/transcripts/who-audio-emergencies-coronavirus-press-conference-20apr2020.pdf?sfvrsn=b5656a70_2 (00:16:31) ;
https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/29-06-2020-covidtimelineStrictly speaking, China's government did not notify WHO but rather WHO confirmed leaked reports of the outbreak with Chinese officials!
China did not provide the world with the Covid-19 corona virus DNA in a timely way.December 27, 2019 - Guangzhou genomics company (one of several) partly sequence virus DNA, recognized as similar to SARS (a corona virus);
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/how-early-signs-of-the-coronavirus-were-spotted-spread-and-throttled-in-chinaDecember 27, 2019 - Vision Medicals, the genomics company to which Wuhan Central Hospital sent samples from a patient on December 24, calls with the results; According to Dr. Zhao Su, “They just called us and said it was a new coronavirusâ€;
https://www.caixinglobal.com/2020-02-29/in-depth-how-early-signs-of-a-sars-like-virus-were-spotted-spread-and-throttled-101521745.htmlDecember 29, 2019 - BGI Genomics is the first known entity to complete sequencing of the novel coronavirus virus,
based on the sample sent to it on December 26;
https://www.caixinglobal.com/2020-02-29/in-depth-how-early-signs-of-a-sars-like-virus-were-spotted-spread-and-throttled-101521745.htmlJanuary 1, 2020 - Genomics company employee ordered by Hubei Provincial Health Commission official to stop testing and destroy samples;
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/how-early-signs-of-the-coronavirus-were-spotted-spread-and-throttled-in-chinaJanuary 2, 2020 (China) - Using samples from Wuhan’s Jinyintan Hospital, the Wuhan Institute of Virology identifies the novel coronavirus and sequences its genome;
https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-it-all-started-chinas-early-coronavirus-missteps11583508932 (behind paywall)
January 3, 2020 (China) - China's National Health Commission ordered institutions not to publish any information and ordered labs to transfer samples to testing institutions (without designating an institution) or to destroy them;
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/how-early-signs-of-the-coronavirus-were-spotted-spread-and-throttled-in-chinaJanuary 5, 2020 (China) - Team led by Prof. Yong-zhen Zhang of Fudan University in Shanghai identified a novel coronavirus and sequenced its genome;
https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/health/shanghai-lab-that-first-sequenced-coronavirus-genome-shut-down/article30951570.eceJanuary 7, 2020 (China) - A China CDC team sequences the genome of the novel coronavirus. CCTV announced this on January 9;
https://news.cctv.com/2020/01/09/ARTI1qaoXDCwfiFM5UPAnNy9200109.shtml (Chinese language)
January 7, 2020 - Fudan University team submited an article to the peer-reviewed journal Nature detailing the team’s sequencing of the novel coronavirus; (published January 28);
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2008-3.pdfJanuary 10, 2020 (China) - Wuhan Institute of Virology and other institutions have produced testing kits;
https://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-04/06/c_138951662.htmJanuary 11, 2020 (China) - Team from Fudan University in Shanghai shared the genomic sequence of the novel coronavirus with the world;
https://twitter.com/edwardcholmes/status/1215802670176276482?s=20 ,
https://virological.org/t/novel-2019-coronavirus-genome/319January 10, 2020 - WHO tweeted, “WHO has received the genetic sequences for the novel #coronavirus (2019-nCoV) from the Chinese authorities";
https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1216108498188230657That multiple institutions were producing testing kits on January 10th is proof they had had the genome for a significant amount of time, during which time the genome information had been withheld from the rest of the world!
China lied to the world, denying it had evidence of human-to-human transmission of the Covid-19 corona virus long after it was known to Wuhan doctors and officials. The World Health Organization repeated China's lies, lending the lies credibility.December 19, 2019 - Pneumonia patients studied by NEJM, earliest patient with infected person contact, not the meat market;
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30183-5/fulltextDecember 21, 2019 - Cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan recognized;
https://weekly.chinacdc.cn/en/article/id/a3907201-f64f-4154-a19e-4253b453d10cDecember 25, 2019 - Recognition of infection of hospital staff reported;
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/IzzCnz4Yr2jEIYZePiu_ow (Chinese language)
December 30, 2019 - Li Wenliang sent WeChat message to fellow doctors, warning to protect themselves from infection;
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30382-2/fulltextDecember 31, 2019 - Wuhan Municipal Health Commission claimed no evidence of human-human transmission or infected medical staff;
https://wjw.wuhan.gov.cn/front/web/showDetail/2019123108989 (Chinese language, second paragraph)
January 2, 2020 - 14 of 41 studied patients had no direct connection to the Huanan seafood market;
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30183-5/fulltextJanuary 2, 2020 - A doctor in Wuhan advised her hospital to set up a special clinic normally used for patients who are infectious and could transmit their disease;
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/IzzCnz4Yr2jEIYZePiu_ow (Chinese language)
January 3, 2020 (China) - Wuhan Municipal Health Commission claimed no evidence of human-human transmission or infected medical staff;
https://wjw.wuhan.gov.cn/front/web/showDetail/2020010309017 (Chinese language)
January 5, 2020 (China) - Wuhan Municipal Health Commission claimed no evidence of human-human transmission or infected medical staff;
https://wjw.wuhan.gov.cn/front/web/showDetail/2020010509020 (Chinese language)
January 5, 2020 - WHO statement, “Based on the preliminary information from the Chinese investigation team, no evidence of significant human-to-human transmission and no health care worker infections have been reportedâ€;
https://www.who.int/csr/don/05-january-2020-pneumonia-of-unkown-cause-china/en/January 10, 2020 - WHO statement, "It is generally considered that entry screening offers little benefit" ... "From the currently available information, preliminary investigation suggests that there is no significant human-to-human transmission, and no infections among health care workers have occurred" and "WHO advises against the application of any travel or trade restrictions on China based on the information currently available on this event";
https://www.who.int/news-room/articles-detail/who-advice-for-international-travel-and-trade-in-relation-to-the-outbreak-of-pneumonia-caused-by-a-new-coronavirus-in-chinaJanuary 11, 2020 (China) - Wuhan Municipal Health Commission claimed no evidence of human-human transmission or infected medical staff;
https://wjw.wuhan.gov.cn/front/web/showDetail/2020011109035 (Chinese language)
January 12, 2020 - WHO claimed, "At this stage, there is no infection among healthcare workers, and no clear evidence of human to human transmission";
https://www.who.int/csr/don/12-january-2020-novel-coronavirus-china/en/January 13, 2020 - WHO claimed "there has been no suggestion of human to human transmission of this new coronavirus";
https://www.who.int/thailand/news/detail/13-01-2020-thailand-responding-to-the-novel-coronavirusJanuary 14, 2020 - Head of China’s National Health Commission, Ma Xiaowei, gave an assessment of the situation in a confidential teleconference with provincial health officials; according to a memo obtained by AP, he commented to the effect that "clustered cases suggest that human-to-human transmission is possible";
https://apnews.com/68a9e1b91de4ffc166acd6012d82c2f9January 14, 2020 (China) - Wuhan Municipal Health Commission claimed no cases among related contacts;
https://wjw.wuhan.gov.cn/front/web/showDetail/2020011409039 (Chinese language)
January 14, 2020 - WHO claimed "there is no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission";
https://www.who.int/csr/don/14-january-2020-novel-coronavirus-thailand-ex-china/en/January 14, 2020 - WHO claimed no evidence of human to human transmission of corona virus;
https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1217043229427761152 , "World Health Organization (WHO)
@WHO
Jan 14
Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel #coronavirus (2019-nCoV) identified in #Wuhan, #China."
January 15, 2020 (China) - Wuhan Municipal Health Commission claimed, "Existing investigative results indicate no clear evidence of person-to-person transmission. We cannot rule out the possibility of limited person-to-person transmission, but the risk of sustained person-to-person transmission is low";
https://wjw.wuhan.gov.cn/front/web/showDetail/2020011509040 ,
https://wjw.wuhan.gov.cn/xwzx_28/gsgg/202004/t20200430_1199594.shtml (Chinese language)
January 15, 2020 - WHO Western Pacific Tweeted, "According to the latest information we have, there is no clear evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission and there are no infections reported among health care workers.";
https://twitter.com/WHOWPRO/status/1217646741677166593January 17, 2020 (China) - Wuhan Municipal Health Commission claimed no cases among related contacts;
https://wjw.wuhan.gov.cn/front/web/showDetail/2020011809064 (Chinese language)
January 19, 2020 - China and WHO claim that how the virus is transmitted is unknown;
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-51168333January 19/20, 2020 (China) - Wuhan Municipal Health Commission claimed no cases among related contacts; 2020,
https://wjw.wuhan.gov.cn/front/web/showDetail/2020012009077 (Chinese language)
January 20, 2020 - First acknowledgement by China and WHO of human-human transmission of coronavirus;
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/human-human-transmission-coronavirus-reported-china/story?id=68403105 ,
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/how-early-signs-of-the-coronavirus-were-spotted-spread-and-throttled-in-chinaJanuary 22, 2020 - Head of Chinese National Health Commission’s High-Level Expert Group, Dr. Zhong Nanshan, publicly confirms for the first time that the novel coronavirus is being transmitted from person to person and that medical personnel have been infected;
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/human-human-transmission-coronavirus-reported-china/story?id=68403105January 22, 2020 - WHO delegation reported human-human transmission had happened (January 20-21), announced by WHO;
https://www.who.int/china/news/detail/22-01-2020-field-visit-wuhan-china-jan-2020Starting no later than December 19, 2019, Wuhan hospitals and provincial and national health officials had an increasing amount of evidence that human-to-human transmission of the corona virus was happening. China and WHO denied this until January 20th!
China allowed travelers to continue spreading Covid-19 outside of China after shutting down domestic travel out of Hubei ProvinceJanuary 18, 2020 (China) - Tens of thousands gather for Wuhan's Lunar New Year banquet;
https://www.thestar.com.my/news/regional/2020/02/06/wuhan-neighbourhood-sees-infections-after-40000-families-gather-for-potluck ,
https://www.ntd.com/wuhans-mass-banquet-amid-virus-outbreak_434389.html ,
https://www.chinanews.com/sh/2020/01-19/9064003.shtml (Chinese language)
January 23, 2020 (China) - The provinces of Zhejiang, Guangdong, and Hunan are the first to raise their public health emergency response levels to Level I, the highest of four levels in China’s public health emergency management system; The Level I alert makes provincial governments responsible for coordinating emergency measures;
https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202001/25/WS5e2c02e3a310128217273375.html ,
https://www.ccdi.gov.cn/toutiao/202001/t20200124_210321.html (Chinese language)
January 25, 2020 (China) - 30 of mainland China’s 31 provincial-level jurisdictions have raised their public health alerts to Level I (Tibet is the exception);
https://www.bjnews.com.cn/news/2020/01/26/679868.html (Chinese language)
January 27, 2020 (China) - Wuhan Mayor Zhou Xianwang acknowledges (on national TV) having failed to disclose information “in a timely mannerâ€, estimated that 5 million people left Wuhan before travel restrictions went into effect;
https://gaodawei.wordpress.com/2020/01/27/wuhan-mayor-zhou-reporting-delays-caused-by-center-i-acted-fast-once-i-got-authorization/February 4, 2020 - The Civil Aviation Administration of China urged domestic carriers to continue flying international routes;
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/wuhan-coronavirus-china-airlines-resume-global-flights-cancel-12390606I do not know when travel out of China was finally shut down, but two weeks after domestic travel out of Hubei Province was shut down China was still urging its carriers to ocntinue international flights.
WHO discouraged international travel restrictions. This discouraged and probably delayed a critical measure that could have limited and/or slowed the spread of the Covid-19 virus.January 5, 2020 - WHO advises: "WHO does not recommend any specific measures for travellers"; "WHO advises against the application of any travel or trade restrictions on China based on the current information available on this event";
https://www.who.int/csr/don/05-january-2020-pneumonia-of-unkown-cause-china/en/January 9, 2020 - "WHO advises against the application of any travel or trade restrictions on China based on the information currently available";
https://www.who.int/china/news/detail/09-01-2020-who-statement-regarding-cluster-of-pneumonia-cases-in-wuhan-chinaJanuary 10, 2020 - WHO statement, "It is generally considered that entry screening offers little benefit" ... "From the currently available information, preliminary investigation suggests that there is no significant human-to-human transmission, and no infections among health care workers have occurred" and "WHO advises against the application of any travel or trade restrictions on China based on the information currently available on this event";
https://www.who.int/news-room/articles-detail/who-advice-for-international-travel-and-trade-in-relation-to-the-outbreak-of-pneumonia-caused-by-a-new-coronavirus-in-chinaJanuary 12, 2020 - WHO advises against the application of any travel or trade restrictions on China;
https://www.who.int/csr/don/12-january-2020-novel-coronavirus-china/en/January 16, 2020 - WHO advises against the application of any travel or trade restrictions;
https://www.who.int/csr/don/16-january-2020-novel-coronavirus-japan-ex-china/en/January 23, 2020 (China) - Wuhan and other cities in Hubei Province shut down travel;
https://m.news.cctv.com/2020/01/20/ARTIF4Fl7LEu8TRqIsnde93B200120.shtml (Chinese language) ,
https://www.mot.gov.cn/jiaotongyaowen/202001/t20200123_3328008.html (Chinese language) ,
https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-01-27/5-million-people-left-Wuhan-before-the-lockdown-where-did-they-go--NACCu9wItW/index.htmlJanuary 24, 2020 - WHO updates its advice for international travelers; on January 10 it advised against entry screening for travelers, it now notes that “the majority of exported cases were detected through entry screeningâ€;
https://www.who.int/news-room/articles-detail/updated-who-advice-for-international-traffic-in-relation-to-the-outbreak-of-the-novel-coronavirus-2019-ncovJanuary 24, 2020 - "WHO advises against the application of any restrictions of international traffic";
https://www.who.int/news-room/articles-detail/updated-who-advice-for-international-traffic-in-relation-to-the-outbreak-of-the-novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov-24-jan/January 27, 2020 - WHO advises against the application of any restrictions of international traffic;
https://www.who.int/news-room/articles-detail/updated-who-advice-for-international-traffic-in-relation-to-the-outbreak-of-the-novel-coronavirus-2019-ncovJanuary 30, 2020 - WHO Director-General Tedros states, "WHO doesn’t recommend limiting trade and movement";
https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-statement-on-ihr-emergency-committee-on-novel-coronavirus-(2019-ncov)January 31, 2020 - WHO spokesperson Tarik Jašarevic stated that travel restrictions are "not something that WHO usually recommends";
https://www.statnews.com/2020/01/31/as-far-right-calls-for-china-travel-ban-health-experts-warn-coronavirus-response-would-suffer/February 2, 2020 (China) - Gauden Galea, WHO representative in China, told CCTV that the World Health Organization did not find enough evidence to impose restrictions on China's travel and trade;
https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-02-01/WHO-calls-for-no-restrictions-on-China-s-trade-and-travel-NIQrW7w3kI/index.htmlFebruary 3, 2020 - WHO Director-General states that a travel ban is not needed;
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-who-idUSKBN1ZX1H3 ,
https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-technical-briefing-on-2019-novel-coronavirusFebruary 11, 2020 - "WHO did not recommend any travel or trade restrictions";
https://www.who.int/news-room/articles-detail/key-considerations-for-repatriation-and-quarantine-of-travellers-in-relation-to-the-outbreak-of-novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov/February 29, 2020 - "WHO continues to advise against the application of travel or trade restrictions to countries experiencing COVID-19 outbreaks";
https://www.who.int/news-room/articles-detail/updated-who-recommendations-for-international-traffic-in-relation-to-covid-19-outbreakThe February 29, 2020 advisory linked above is the last statement I've found from WHO referencing travel restrictions. It appears WHO simply went silent. The January 23 item about domestic travel out of Hubei Province being shut down is not an "Oops". It's there to show that WHO's advisories contradict what China did internally.
March 3, 2020 - WHO Director-General claimed, "COVID-19 does not transmit as efficiently as influenza, from the data we have so far";
https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-media-briefing-on-covid-19---3-march-2020April 13, 2020 - WHO MERS specialist states she suspected from the start that human-human transmission may have been happening;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCy-qvcDDl4 starting around 23:00
