China claims it reported first Wuhan case to WHO at the earliest as US alleges delay

China said that the government reported about the coronavirus outbreak to the World Health Organisation (WHO) at the earliest time possible, dismissing the claims of White House Trade Advisor Peter Navarro that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) lied regarding the virus. In separate TV interviews, Navarro had claimed that China not only lied about the virus but also “deliberately” sent infected people to other countries.

Speaking to a news channel, Navarro said everybody had believed the virus would go away during summer due to heat and humidity but that didn’t happen. The top White House advisor made wild allegations, saying the novel coronavirus looks like a “weaponised virus”. Navarro’s comment came after Trump’s tweet in which he blamed China for the rising number of coronavirus cases across the world.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said that the timelines of the UN health agency and the Chinese government clearly show that Beijing has been timely and transparent on COVID-19 information sharing. Calling Navarro a “habitual liar”, he said that the US official is obsessed with starting rumours and stigmatising China with COVID-19. 

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Attacks US over virus containment

Zhao further added that the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission had released a notice on the virus outbreak on Dec 31, 2019, and China reported it to WHO at the earliest time possible. Reiterating the question asked by MSNBC, the spokesperson asked why is new disease count in the US stands highest in the world on a 7-day rolling basis.

The US is the worst affected country with nearly 2.9 million confirmed cases of coronavirus and more than 1,29,000 deaths which has raised several questions on COVID-19 measures of US authorities. Trump has been trying to outsource the blame to China for his administration’s failure in containing the virus as he faces a tough re-election campaign. According to John Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, over 11 million coronavirus cases have been confirmed worldwide with more than 534,000 deaths, overwhelming the health care facilities across the globe.

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