[ad_1]
A slew of recently leaked documents detail how China messed up its handling of the early days of the pandemic – including low COVID-19 data and weeks to diagnose new cases, according to a report released Monday.
The 117 pages of internal documents obtained by CNN describe how health officials in Hubei, where the virus was first detected, have been hampered by chronic underfunding, resulting in shortfalls in personnel and funding. test equipment.
“It was clear that they had made mistakes – and not just mistakes that occur when dealing with a new virus – also bureaucratic and politically motivated mistakes in the way they handled it,” Yanzhong Huang, senior researcher for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, said at the outlet.
The documents, from the Hubei Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, reveal inconsistencies between what officials knew at the start of the outbreak and what they reported publicly, according to the report.
Chinese authorities “actually seemed to downplay the impact of the outbreak at all times,” including not including the number of suspected cases in its total at the start, said William Schaffner, professor of infectious diseases at the University. by Vanderbilt.
A report from Hubei marked “internal document, please keep confidential” shows how local health officials on February 10 reported 5,918 new cases of coronavirus – while the publicly reported number was only 2,478, according to CNN.
“China had an image to protect internationally, and lower-ranking officials had a clear incentive to underreport – or show their superiors that they were underreporting – in the eyes of the outside world,” Andrew said. Mertha, director of the Chinese studies program. at Johns Hopkins University.
In mid-February, officials upgraded the system and fired senior health officials in Hubei who were allegedly responsible for the report, the outlet reported.
The documents also reveal that it took an average of 23.2 days to diagnose cases in the early months of the outbreak, leading the government to use outdated figures to determine how to respond to the ongoing crisis.
“You are looking at data from three weeks old and trying to make a decision for today,” said Dr. Amesh Adalja of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.
The report notes that the system improved on March 7, with more than 80% of new confirmed cases diagnosed registered in the system on the same day.
In addition, the documents show how Hubei was hit by an undisclosed flu outbreak in December, which could make it harder for officials to search for new viruses.
The files show that health officials did not realize the scale of the epidemic or that it would evolve into a global crisis.
“They’ve had a massive run on the medical system. They were overwhelmed, ”said Dali Yang of the Council on Foreign Relations.
[ad_2]
Source link