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

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

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

documents reportedly cover an incomplete period between October 2019 and April 2020 and lay bare reportedly inflexible health care system that is restricted by top-down bureaucracy along with rigid procedures. It also indicates that local health facilities were t fully-equipped to handle emergencies. Even though Chinese authorities showcased nation handled outbreak in a transparent and efficient manner, 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,  entire time from patient experiencing symptoms to be confirmed diagsis as 23.3 days, which according to health experts would have severely hampered steps to monitor and combat COVID-19 because it is a "long time". However, China has consistently defended its response to COVID-19 and touted it as “timely, open and transparent”. 

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

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‘y did make mistakes’

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

However, health expert n added, “But even if y had been 100% transparent, that would t stop Trump administration downplaying seriousness of it. It would probably t have stopped this developing into a pandemic.” On December 1, it has w been a year since first kwn patient showed symptoms of disease in Hubei provincial capital of Wuhan, according to a Lancet study.

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