The following is the actual translation of one of the very first articles from China about COVID-19.    After this article, I have taken excerpts from an article published on yahoo.com from a journalist in Hong Kong.  It is interesting to take note of the differences between the tone and content of the two articles.

Wuhan Municipal Health and Health Commission notified the current analysis of pneumonia epidemic situation and considered it to be viral pneumonia

December 31, 2019 (from China)

CCTV News: On December 31, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission notified the basic situation of pneumonia in the city. It is reported that some medical institutions recently found that multiple pneumonia cases received were related to South China Seafood City. After receiving the report, the Wuhan Municipal Health and Health Commission immediately conducted a search and review of cases related to South China Seafood City in the city's medical and health institutions According to sexual investigations, 27 cases have been found, of which 7 cases are in serious condition, and the remaining cases are stable and controllable, and 2 cases are expected to be discharged soon.

The clinical manifestations of the case were mainly fever, a few patients had difficulty breathing, and chest radiographs showed infiltrative lesions of both lungs. At present, all cases have been treated in isolation, follow-up investigations and medical observations of close contacts are in progress, and hygienic investigations and environmental hygiene treatment of South China Seafood City are in progress.

Wuhan organized the consultation of clinical medicine, epidemiology, and virology experts in Tongji Hospital, Provincial Center for Disease Control, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan Infectious Disease Hospital, and Wuhan Center for Disease Control, etc. , Epidemiological investigation, preliminary laboratory analysis and other aspects of the situation that the above cases are viral pneumonia. The investigation so far has found no obvious person-to-person transmission, and no medical personnel have been infected. At present, the detection of pathogens and the investigation of the cause of infection are in progress.

Viral pneumonia is more common in winter and spring and can be sporadic or outbreaks. The clinical manifestations are mainly fever, body aches, a small number of breathing difficulties, and lung infiltration. Viral pneumonia is related to the virulence of the virus, the route of infection, and the age and immune status of the host. The viruses that cause viral pneumonia are commonly known as influenza viruses, and others are parainfluenza virus, cytomegalovirus, adenovirus, rhinovirus, coronavirus, etc. The diagnosis depends on pathogenic examination, including virus isolation, serological examination, and detection of viral antigens and nucleic acids. The disease is preventable and controllable. Prevent indoor air circulation, avoid public places and places where people are crowded and closed, and wear masks when going out. Symptomatic treatment is the main clinical practice and bed rest is required. If you have the above symptoms, especially if your fever persists, you should consult a medical institution in time.

Hong Kong takes emergency measures as mystery ‘pneumonia’ infects dozens in China’s Wuhan city

December 31, 2019 (Yahoo.com, from South China Morning Post)

How Hong Kong described the virus

Hong Kong health authorities are taking no chances with a mysterious outbreak of viral pneumonia in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, warning of symptoms similar to Sars and bird flu as they step up border screening and put hospitals on alert.

Note: China tries to associate the virus with influenza (the common flu) while Hong Kong is more direct by telling readers it is like Sars.  

What Hong Kong did

With Wuhan reporting 27 infections so far, Chan said the Department of Health would increase vigilance and temperature screenings at every border checkpoint, including the city’s international airport and high-speed railway station in West Kowloon.

Note: All international travelers were checked for fever.  It does not cover asymptomatic cases, but it did show the severity of the situation.

“So far, there are no suspicious pneumonia cases in public hospitals,” he said. “But once we suspect cases, including the presentation of fever and acute respiratory illness or pneumonia, and travel history to Wuhan within 14 days before the onset of symptoms, we will put the patients into isolation.”

Note:  14 days?  With the regular flu, people are not contagious without symptoms for 14 days.  Again, it shows the severity of the situation.

The notice invoked memories of the 2002 and 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or Sars, which killed hundreds of people in mainland China and Hong Kong.

Note: People were noticing a similarity to Sars.

Over the past month, 27 patients in Wuhan – most of them where stall holders at the Huanan seafood market – have been treated for the mystery illness.

Note:  Do you notice the words “most of them were stall holders”?  What about the rest?  Not all cases were linked to the market.  So if not all cases were linked to the market and it has to have started from one source that the government was telling the people was not human to human contact, how was it being transmitted?  Was it like HIV that can only be transmitted through bodily fluid?  No, because it could have been easily contained and stopped.  So it had to be human to human contact.  Otherwise, it never would have left the market.

The Wuhan municipal health commission said seven of the patients were seriously ill. Two had nearly recovered and were about to leave the hospital, while the remaining patients were in a stable condition. Most patients had fevers and some were short of breath.

Note: 27 patients were sick enough to be in the hospital.  What about all of the other patients who were still sick, but not sick enough to be in the hospital?  A government does not panic and shut down over 27 patients sick with pneumonia, so the actual number of people sick at this time must have been a lot higher.

No human-to-human infection had been reported so far, officials said, and no medical staff had contracted the disease. More pathological tests and investigations were underway.

Note: This makes no sense.  Too many people were infected for it not to be human to human transmission.  Especially when all 27 people did not get sick at the same time.  How long does food stay in a market before it spoils?  3 days?  If it is not food and it is not human to human transmission, then what is it?  

Microbiologist Yuen Kwok-yung from the University of Hong Kong noted similarities with the 1997 outbreak of avian influenza, and the severe acute respiratory syndrome epidemic of 2003 – all cases in Wuhan were linked to the same seafood market, reported in December, and with a severe infection rate of 25 percent.

Note: Even leaders thinking about this paragraph would have put leaders on better alert.  Current numbers are around 2% severe and 15% dead.  But ⅔ of the cases have not recovered.  For some people, it can take 6 weeks for a person to recover.  So the end result numbers are lower, but the length of time a person is sick is much longer (assuming no medical intervention).

Qu Shiqian, a vendor at the seafood market, said government officials had disinfected the premises on Tuesday and told stallholders to wear masks.

He said he had only learned about the pneumonia outbreak from media reports.

“Previously I thought they had flu,” he said. “It should be not serious. We are fish traders. How can we get infected?”

Note: So again, if there has been zero history of a virus outbreak by eating food from a food market, why would this virus be different?

People’s Daily also quoted several hospital sources in the city who said it was likely that the virus responsible was different from Sars, which infected more than 5,300 people and killed 349 in mainland China between late 2002 and mid-2003.

Note: It was being compared to Sars in China’s reporting, but China tried to downplay that.

Summary

Let’s think of things in different terms.  Imagine you were playing Sloto cash online casino, and then think about the odds. 

December 1, 2019 - 1st patient shows symptoms (husband of the Wet Market Merchant)

December 8, 2019 - 2nd patient shows symptoms (merchant of the Wet Market)

December 13, 2019 - Estimate 4 patients 

December 18, 2019 - Estimate 8 patients

December 23, 2019 - Estimate 16 patients

December 28, 2019 - Estimate 32 patients

December 31, 2019 - 27 cases (actual count) 

January 5, 2020 - 59 cases (doubled in 5 days)

January 22, 2020 - 580 cases (883% increase)

January 29, 2020 - 7,813 cases (1243% increase)

Every 5 days the number doubles, and then it increases by 883% and then 1243% -- instead of thinking of this in people being sick (or dying), think of it in terms of dollars being earned.  And now imagined it continued, unstopped, for 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, 12 years.  

On top of that, think about the fact that 78% don’t show symptoms, but are carriers.  So for every 2 people that show symptoms, 8 don’t show symptoms.

It is not people dying that is scary.  It is the number of people sick at exactly the same time that is scary. 

China knew what was going on, but they hid it, changed language, downplayed it.  Hong Kong was more honest with its citizens.  People from Hong Kong were able to actually go to Wuhan, China, because Hong Kong is considered part of China.  The US did not have that advantage.  We had to depend on China being honest.

February 16, Hong Kong had its first case.  By March 15, they had 7 cases.  By April 4, they still only had 4 cases.  

That is what happens when during a pandemicthe government actually is honest with the public and tell the public exactly how serious the situation is.  The cut to the case.  They held nothing back from the public.  And the public won.  Too bad the politicians in America could not learn from Hong Kong.

Although the citizens of Hong Kong have first hand experience in just how evil China really is.