China's mistakes in handling coronavirus, CNN says
Nurses at Tongji Hospital in Wuhan, Hubei, May 12, 2020. AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
Documents revealed by CNN have everything to embarrass Beijing: the American television station has had access to confidential internal reports from the health authorities of the government of Hubei province, the cradle of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Documents which show serious shortcomings in the management of the health crisis.
Publicity
Read more
The start of the epidemic in China is marked by administrative delays, under-equipped hospitals and a health system that is too rigid to be able to react quickly to the new coronavirus which is raging at the start of 2020 in the province of Hubei.
The 117 pages stamped “internal document, please keep it confidential” reveal the failings of an outdated, ineffective and opaque central power.
A power that makes people believe that it is in control of the situation while it hides the extent of the health disaster.
An example: on February 10, when President Xi Jinping broke his silence and offered his condolences to the families of the victims, the health authorities reported 2,478 new cases in Hubei.
Documents, kept secret, report that same day 5,918 contaminations, more than double.
Another document revealed by CNN shows that a patient had to wait an average of 23 days after the first symptoms appear to know whether or not they had the virus.
Precious time lost to contain the epidemic.
These revelations are sure to increase the pressure on Beijing, which still refuses to let independent experts investigate the origin of the pandemic.
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Coronavirus
China