The US “Associated Press” announced that it obtained internal documents from China, proving that China hides the new epidemic of Corona virus in the country six days.

The agency said the delay occurred from January 14 to 20, when President Xi Jinping finally warned the public of the epidemic, but by that time more than 3,000 people had been infected.

She added that the memo she obtained shows that the head of the Chinese National Health Commission “Ma Xiaowei” made a grim assessment of the situation on January 14, during a secret conference call with health officials in Wuhan.

The memo said that the remote meeting was held to transmit instructions on the emerging coronavirus from President Xi Jinping, Prime Minister Li Keqiang and Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chunlan.

However, the memo did not specify these instructions, as it only stressed that the epidemiological situation is serious and complex, which is the most severe challenge since “SARS” in 2003, and it is likely to develop into a major public health event.

In turn, the Chinese Health Authority stressed that it organized the conference remotely due to the reported situation in Thailand and the possibility of a virus spreading during the new year, adding that China has published information on the outbreak in an open, transparent, responsible and timely manner in accordance with the important instructions repeatedly issued by President Xi.

Zhou Fengchang, an independent epidemiologist at the University of California, USA, said the Chinese authorities’ handling of Corona was “horrific,” according to the agency. He added: “If they had taken measures six days ago … we would have avoided the collapse of the medical system in Wuhan.”

Other experts indicated that the Chinese government may have given warning to the public to avoid hysteria, explaining that it had acted during that time quickly and secretly.

“What is clear is that China’s strict controls on information, bureaucratic obstacles, and a reluctance to raise bad news to higher levels of leadership, prevent the issuance of early warnings,” the agency said.

For its part, the Chinese government categorically denied all accusations against it of obscuring information in the early days, saying it had immediately informed the World Health Organization of the outbreak.
 

“Those who accuse China of lacking transparency and openness are not fair,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Legian said today, when asked about the Associated Press story.