China's initial COVID-19 response was chaotic, documents reveal inconsistencies: Report

From numerous inconsistencies to health system being in tumult for downplaying the severity of COVID-19 in the initial days of the outbreak, leaked files from the epicentre, Wuhan in China reveal the chaotic first responses by the Asian country. According to the 117-page-long leaked documents from the Hubei Provincial Center for Disease Control and prevention shared and verified by CNN, back on February 10, the newly-detected cases of the novel coronavirus infection were 5,918 that is more than double the official public number of confirmed cases that was revealed to the world. 

The report consisting the details of COVID-19 earlier this year is marked “internal document, please keep confidential”, the local health authorities in Hubei had divided the cases into categories, but China never revealed the larger figure. The documents also showcase the health facilities in Hubei to be underfunded and ill-equipped to manage the sudden inflow of patients.

The documents reportedly cover an incomplete period between October 2019 and April 2020 and lay bare the reportedly inflexible health care system that is restricted by the top-down bureaucracy along with rigid procedures. It also indicates that local health facilities were not fully-equipped to handle emergencies. Even though the Chinese authorities showcased the nation handled the outbreak in a transparent and efficient manner, the leaked documents indicated flawed testing as well as reporting mechanisms.

More than 20 days to process a case

China’s internal document has shown that in March, the entire time from the patient experiencing symptoms to be confirmed diagnosis as 23.3 days, which according to health experts would have severely hampered the steps to monitor and combat COVID-19 because it is a "long time". However, China has consistently defended its response to the COVID-19 and touted it as “timely, open and transparent”. 

Even the White paper has said explained the Asian country as acting with “keen sense of responsibility”. The media outlet also quote health experts saying that the leaked documents significantly reveal that China knew crucial information about the disease in the early months. 

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‘They did make mistakes’

Yanzhong Huang from the global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, who has also extensively written about China’s COVID-19 response reportedly said that “it was clear they did make mistakes”. He was quoted by the media outlet saying that China made “bureaucratic and politically-motivated errors” in how the entire situation with the novel coronavirus was handled that further led to global consequences. 

However, the health expert then added, “But even if they had been 100% transparent, that would not stop the Trump administration downplaying the seriousness of it. It would probably not have stopped this developing into a pandemic.” On December 1, it has now been a year since the first known patient showed symptoms of the disease in the Hubei provincial capital of Wuhan, according to a Lancet study.

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