Page 6 - My FlipBook

A nurse in a protective suit feeds a
novel coronavirus patient inside an
isolated ward at Zhongnan Hospital of
Wuhan University in China on February
8, 2020. The rst documented case of
the disease was diagnosed in Wuhan
in early December 2019.

countries are required to share vital health information at once
with the WHO, although the UN agency has no way to force com-
pliance.
Chinese offi cials fumbled or suppressed information about
the coronavirus in other ways. In December 2019 test results
from several labs in Wuhan showed that viral pneumonia pa-
tients in the city had contracted the same infectious disease. Yet
offi cials and medical workers kept their concerns to themselves.
According to the Straits Times of Singapore, an offi cial at the
Hubei Provincial Health Commission contacted one genetics-
testing company and ordered it to stop testing samples of the
Wuhan virus. The company was also told to stop releasing test
results and to destroy all remaining samples. Government or-
ders prevented information about the virus from being shared
much earlier.

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