As Beijing is desperate to avoid blaming a virus that has killed more than 1.8 million people worldwide, China is sharpening its story about the spread of the coronavirus pandemic ahead of a World Health Organization (WHO) investigation to prevent it held accountable, according to reports.
The independent WHO investigation – which is expected to last about four to five weeks – will involve a team of ten, one of whom told BBC News last month that it was not a ‘guilty country’. In March 2020, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention leader, Dr. Gauden Galea, said the intention is to learn how similar pandemics can be avoided in the coming years.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday that he was “disappointed” that Chinese officials had not yet finalized permission for the team to arrive.
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In China, COVID-19 – first reported in the eastern city of Wuhan – infected at least 96,278 people and killed more than 4,787 people, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.
However, a recent study by CDC in China found that the number of cases in Wuhan alone could be ten times higher than originally reported.
They would not be the only country underreporting data. In December, Russia acknowledged that its death toll from the pandemic was more than three times higher than initially reported.
In this photo released by the Xinhua News Agency, visitors to Tiananmen Square are waving Chinese national flags as they attend the flag-raising ceremony at Tiananmen Square in Beijing on Friday, January 1, 2021. (Ju Huanzong / Xinhua via AP)
Now, compared to some countries like Brazil, most of China seems to have stopped the virus for once.
Nevertheless, China has frequently pushed aside the rhetoric of leaders like President Trump, who has largely denied blame for the pandemic, calling it the ‘China virus’ or ‘Kung Flu’.
Republican senators followed suit, and the Senate Homeland Security Committee – chaired by Wisconsin GOP Senator Ron Johnson – announced in April that they were conducting a “comprehensive” review of the virus’ origins, as well as the WHO’s response.
Yet it is likely that investigators at the WHO and in the United States are unlikely to be allowed to properly investigate some of the more sensitive aspects of the outbreak, as indicated by recent state-run media efforts.
Some reports have taken the work of German scientist Alexander Kekulé to blame Italy for the spread of the outbreak, and others claim that the coronavirus originated from packaged food from overseas.
Chinese scientists, according to The New York Times, have released a paper suspecting that the pandemic could have started in India.
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Even a senior Chinese diplomat, Wang Yi, argued that “more and more studies” show that coronavirus has originated in various regions.
While scientists ending the pandemic may need accurate information to do so, global politics, along with what Kekulé calls ‘pure propaganda’, could hamper progress.