There have been several allegations against China for trying to cover-up the Coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan. Now a doctor from China, who had diagnosed early coronavirus cases in the country, has accused that local authorities in Wuhan covered up the initial scale of the outbreak in Wuhan. He told BBC that the local authorities had already destroyed evidence of outbreak when they went for investigation.
Professor Kwok-Yung Yuen, a microbiologist, physician and surgeon in Hong Kong, said that physical evidence at the Huanan wildlife market was destroyed. Also, the response to clinical findings was slow. Professor Kwok-Yung had helped to investigate the COVID-19 outbreak in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.
“When we went to the Huanan supermarket, of course, there was nothing to see because the market was clean already. So, you may say that the crime scene is already disturbed because the supermarket was cleared. We cannot identify any host which is giving the virus to humans,” BBC quoted Professor Yuen as saying.
He further said, “I do suspect that they have been doing some cover-up locally at Wuhan. The local officials who are supposed to immediately relay the information have not allowed this to be done as readily as it should.”
Coronavirus pandemic outbreak in the world had started from the Huanan wildlife market in Wuhan in December last year. Till now, the pandemic has globally infected over 16 million people and claimed lives of more than 648,000 people and brought the world economy to a standstill.
As per Johns Hopkins data, China has reported 86,570 COVID-19 cases and 4,652 deaths. However, many countries, including the US, have criticised China for not sharing information about the severity of the disease. China has denied accusations of withholding information. China is also accused of reprimanding Dr Li Wenliang and other whistleblowers in Wuhan who tried to warn medics about the deadly virus. Li was the first to report about the virus in December last year. He had contracted the disease and died in February.
The coronavirus cases in the world have doubled over the last six weeks. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus today said that about 16 million cases have been reported to the UN health agency, with more than 640,000 deaths worldwide.
Source: Deccan Herald
