At the beginning of the outbreak, UK media: Chinese doctors had long known human-to-human transmission and were blocked by the government

Editor : Lu Yongxin / https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/2021/01/21/a103036800.html / Direct translation

Image : A police officer wearing a protective mask is on duty outside the South China Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, where the first outbreak of the CCP virus cluster infection case occurred on January 24, 2020. (Hector Retamal / AFP via Getty Images)

The British Independent Television (ITV) returned to the scene a year after the SARS-CoV-2 (CCP virus, covi, novel coronavirus) outbreak. Chinese doctors confessed to citizen reporters for the first time that they never doubt the virus. It is dangerous and spreads from person to person. As early as the end of December 2019, it was known that there was a death case, but they were blocked by the government for revealing the truth.

The Central News Agency reported that a citizen reporter who was secretly filming the ITV documentary recorded footage. A doctor who was mosaicked on the camera said: "Actually, at the end of December (2019) or early January (2020), there were relatives of my acquaintance died from this virus. Many people who lived with him were also infected, including people I know.” Another doctor said: “All of us believe that there is no doubt that this will spread from person to person.”

The doctor also revealed that as early as the outbreak of the epidemic, the Chinese authorities began to cover up the truth. One person said, "We know that the virus can spread from person to person, but when we attended a hospital meeting, we were told not to speak up. The provincial leaders asked the hospital not to tell the truth."

They said that although the authorities had known that celebrating the Lunar New Year in January would "accelerate the spread of the virus," "Some people suggested that at least the city activities should be cancelled, but they will still be held in the end because it symbolizes social harmony and prosperity.

The documentary revealed that the virus began to spread between 5 and 17  January  2020 but the Chinese authorities did not formally report new cases in these 12 days.

Luo Yijun, deputy director of Taiwan’s Disease Control Agency and expert in infectious diseases, said in an interview, “The early management of the outbreak was a mess and failed. I think if China can handle the epidemic transparently and quickly provide the necessary information to the world, from the beginning To avoid a pandemic."

The documentary also interviewed Zhuang Yinqing, chairman of the Taiwan Infectious Diseases Association who had visited Wuhan. He said that China was unwilling to allow him and his team to inspect at first, and he and his colleagues were not allowed to go there until two weeks later. However, he found that even if he arrived there, it was still difficult to find the truth until a certain meeting.

He said, "We asked a lot of questions, and they finally reluctantly said that limited human-to-human transmission cannot be ruled out." "But how big is the infection? How many patients are there? We don't know, only they know the answer."

On 20 January 2020, the British independent television station went to Wuhan for filming. At the time, it was informed that there was an outbreak of avian influenza-like virus. Although the new virus was compared with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), it was thought to be less deadly.

But that night, Chinese health officials admitted on CCTV that the virus can be spread from "human-to-human." Two days later, Wuhan experienced the first lockdown in the world. The lockdown lasted 76 days.

ITV recently returned to filming on the streets of Wuhan, one year after the outbreak, and found that life seemed to have returned to normal. Only the people wearing masks and some signs revealed that the epidemic had occurred.

Experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) were finally allowed to travel to Wuhan to find answers last week. As the investigation progressed, more and more evidence showed that China lied and concealed cases in the early stages of the outbreak, and failed to respond quickly.

ITV's investigations in recent months have also suffered setbacks. The police warned people ITV had contacted not to accept interviews with foreign media. Some of these people just want to share their sad stories, and some are ready to fight the government.

They all know the consequences of speaking out. In December 2020, Chinese citizen journalist Zhang Zhan, who had reported on the epidemic in Wuhan, was sentenced by the authorities to 4 years in prison for "picking quarrels and provoking trouble."

Some of Zhang Zhan's supporters took the risk to accept interviews and shared their views on the WHO's investigation in Wuhan. They likened this investigation to "archaeology", thinking that they might find nothing, or they might find the answers deeply buried.