Tuesday, March 10, 2020

Insights on COVID-19. Wuhan survivors recounting their 'lock down' experiences

Ref : https://www.soundofhope.org/post/352942
Translation, editing : Gan Yung Chyan
                                 / KUCINTA SETIA

Image courtesy :  'Telefacts', Belgian VTM

The Belgian VTM television current affairs programme Telefacts recently broadcast a film about the mainland China government's attempt to conceal the COVID-19 (covid, in short) epidemic in Wuhan for as long as possible, resulting in a missed critical period of the epidemic prevention and control. The film reveals that the China Communist Party (CCP) seemed unable to control the situation. It adopted iron-handed measures such as dragging infected patients out of their homes, and even the door was welded to death. This (film) shows that the focus of the Communist Party's epidemic work is not on epidemic prevention.

The film attempts to unfold the key events in the covid epidemic from initially pointing out the origin of the outbreak to the stories of the courageous Dr Li Wenliang to locking down the city of Wuhan  and interviews survivors in Wuhan that recount their isolation experiences. 

Insights on COVID-19

The film mentioned Dr Wu Wenjuan and the research team from Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital who contributed their paper to The Lancet journal published on 24 January 2020. According to Dr Wu, the first date of covid diagnosis is 1 December 2019 and the 'zero patient " infection is not associated with the Wuhan Huanan Seafood Market. CCP officials and experts initially insisted that the source of the epidemic was the seafood market and blamed the epidemic on wild animal consumption habit. However, Raina MacIntyre, a global biosecurity expert at the Kirby Institute in Australia, believes that a person is more likely to be infected not by eating wild animals but by touching the meat of contaminated wild animals.

BBC correspondent Stephen Mcdonell recounted in the film, "By the end of December, the number of people infected with the mysterious virus was rapidly increasing, and doctors in Wuhan began to exchange information on the chat platform. Before we knew about the new coronavirus, someone tried to sound the alarm. A group of 'whistleblower's learned that the virus had infected some people and they started talking about it. Especially a doctor named Li Wenliang started to chat on the platform. He told his college classmates that "some patients were infected with SARS virus".

While Li Wenliang reminded his university classmates about the epidemic, the Wuhan Health Commission issued an urgent internal notice to all hospitals in Wuhan with the subject "Treatment of Unexplained Pneumonia", which also warned all doctors about the condition. The outbreak is confidential.

Wu Qiang, an independent current affairs commentator, said, "The authorities concealed from the public due to political considerations. Of course, we do not doubt that he has actually reported the situation to the central government at the same time. The local government is not responsible to the local people at this time. It is completely the responsibility of the central government.".

"Be careful that our WeChat group is blocked. The latest news is that the coronavirus infection is confirmed. Don't spread it out, let family and relatives pay attention to prevention." The video shows this message released by Dr. Li Wenliang in the WeChat group. Richard McGregor, a former  correspondent for the Australian newspaper, said that this group of Wuhan doctors shared information about this strange virus on WeChat, just as we expected medical professionals to do, and what they actually did is a compilation of information to see what's going on, but doing so in China is dangerous. "There is no doubt that the local government in Wuhan has concealed the information," Richard said. Wuhan doctors who talked about the virus were explicitly asked to shut up.

Stephen Mcdonell, a, BBC Australian Chinese correspondent based in China, said, "Doctor Li Wenliang was disciplined by his own hospital. He was even taken away by the police and told not to spread 'rumors.' This is how the CCP reacts when you openly say something the Communist Party doesn't like: You are spreading rumors. Even when someone tries to tell the world about a potentially terrible virus, the (CCP) 's first reaction is to shut up these people."

From the time when Dr. Li Wenliang reminded Wuhan of the outbreak of covid to 20 January, the Chinese authorities clearly stated that there was a full interval of 3 weeks. Stephen commented due to political factors, the CCP had lost a critical period of disease prevention and control. He said, "This is the point. They (the Communist Party of China) lost two weeks, or maybe three weeks. This is the golden period when the virus has spread, they can track the virus, and they can study the virus more substantially." 

In early January before the Spring Festival in China, millions of Chinese people returned to China via Wuhan to celebrate the New Year. "If it is necessary to choose the most dangerous and unfavorable period of virus transmission, the most unfavorable period for the virus to spread rapidly throughout China and even the world is the Chinese New Year," said Stephen.

Wuhan survivors recounting their 'lock down' experiences 

The Telefacts film also records the encounter of a Chinese, Wang Ying, who returned to Wuhan from Australia in January. 

Wang Ying recounted that a few days after the Christmas holiday she received a video from relatives in Wuhan showing that  there was an outbreak of SARS-like pneumonia, and they waited until the first week of January to return to Wuhan. The news that the epidemic was controllable was released by the local government of Wuhan. Relieved, Wang Ying and her family  flew to their parents' home in Wuhan.

On the day the Wang Ying's family arrived in Wuhan (9 January), the first death case occurred in Wuhan, but the local government announced it two days later. "In the critical period of the spread of the epidemic in early January, Wuhan and Hubei were holding two sessions, so we saw the first death report on the 9th before reporting on the 11th. After the 11th, the epidemic had a plateau period and there was no change "

The day before Wuhan closed the city, the Chinese government finally acknowledged the severity of the epidemic at a news conference in Beijing on 22 January 2020, "the virus may mutate, and the epidemic has the risk of further expansion."

"22 January was a turning point. The bad news started to come. First was the official news of CCP. When I woke up in the morning on the 23 January, my father suddenly told me we can't go out of the apartment. When I learned of Wuhan’s closure, I was very shocked and started to send text messages to ask if the official news was true and how serious it was,” Wang Ying said.

"The CCP authorities decided to lock Hubei Province, which is equivalent to blocking the entire Italian population. At this time everyone learned that the matter was serious," said Stephen. 

Levin, an infectious disease expert said,"When Wuhan was closed on 23 January, and all of China began to take action, this was unprecedented in the history of modern medicine. We know that the blockade can play a role, but it has never been done in such a large area." 

CCP's epidemic prevention is unfavourable as it has caused strong public dissatisfaction.

As the death toll has risen, unprecedented attacks on the current regime have emerged in China. "I would like to ask if there is a second country on this planet that is so nonsense? Now Wuhan is like hell, seeing them fall to the ground or all kinds of situations. Today is New Year's Day. Do you think we Wuhan people or Chinese people can be happy? "A young Wuhan man expressed his indignation in the video.

"China’s 900 million smartphone users have been extremely dissatisfied with the development of the covid epidemic since January. Such dissatisfaction has never been seen in the past eight years. They are unfavorable to the Wuhan government in epidemic prevention and disaster relief, and to the Wuhan people the dilemma after the city and the paralysis of local medical care expressed dissatisfaction, "commentator Wu Qiang said.

Australians staying in Wuhan have witnessed the CCP government's iron fist epidemic prevention after Wuhan's closure. Telefacts revealed what happened in Wuhan after the city was closed, and how the local government did epidemic prevention work. 

Tim Mclean is an Australian. Since his wife is Chinese, his wife could not board the plane during the evacuation operation to Australia. He chose to stay with his wife in Wuhan. "It was cold and they were waiting at the hospital. We were not allowed to approach and someone fell to the ground and died. I know that the situation is serious and I want to leave here as soon as possible. It is really bad," Marklin described, " I saw how medical staff took away a woman 20 meters away from my door. This woman was infected with Wuhan pneumonia and her son was taken away. Her son went home because he was not infected. Then we never heard or saw this woman again. "

The film also showed a startling picture: local police and medical staff forcibly took away the suspected people; the infected people's homes were sealed by welding, and they were not allowed to go out.

Marklin, another Australian, shared his experiences and feelings with Telefacts,"I'm very scared now. 1,300 people have died here. The police knocked on the door to take their temperature, and if someone had a fever, they would be forcibly dragged away by the police. You have no right to speak, you have no choice. We are not only isolated at home. The quarantine measure goes beyond isolation. Others can knock on the door and drag you away forcibly, just because you have a fever, which is very scary. "

"I don't know what will happen in the future. We haven't received any news about how long we need to stay at home. People living next to me are infected. People living upstairs are infected. People across the street are infected. I am hiding from an unseen virus and a government that does not respect the people."

Marklin's last remarks in the film above may speak out the voice of many Wuhan people.

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