Trump officials emphasize that coronavirus 'Made in China'

re's one thing Trump ministration wants Americans to remember about coronavirus pandemic: It carries "Me in China” label.

Trump ministration officials, on defensive about ir own handling of virus, have repeatedly reminded people that virus started in Wuhan, a city in China's Hubei province, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo referring to it as “Wuhan coronavirus.”

President Donald Trump's national security viser, Robert O'Brien, went even furr on Wednesday.

“Unfortunately, rar than using best practices, this outbreak in Wuhan was covered up," O'Brien said at Herit Foundation, a conservative-leaning think tank in Washington. "re's lots of open-source reporting from China, from Chinese nationals, that doctors involved were eir silenced or put in isolation, or that sort of thing, so that word of this virus could t get out. It probably cost world community two months."

O'Brien said that if experts would have h those two months to get ahe of spre of virus, "I think we could have dramatically curtailed what happened both in China and what's w happening across world."

O'Brien's remarks seemed to be aimed at countering a disinformation campaign that Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., says China's Communist Party is waging to blame U.S. for virus so it can dampen discontent in China, distract from true infection rates and “save face internationally.”

“ Chinese military portal Xilu.com recently published an article baselessly claiming that virus is ‘a biochemical weapon produced by U.S. to target China,’" Rubio wrote.

China, however, says it is helping international community battle virus. U.N. Ambassor Zhang Jun told reporters at U.N. hequarters in New York that Beijing is working closely with or countries and have provided medical supplies to nations, including Korea, Japan and Italy.

“We are sending medical teams to countries that need that, and we will do whatever to join international community to fight this virus ... because we have only one world, we need to join hands, we need to show solidarity.”

Rubio claims that besides China, disinformation is coming from Russia and Iran, hardest-hit country in Middle East.

“In Qom, ground zero of Iran’s coronavirus outbreak, a prominent cleric accused United States of introducing virus ‘to dam ( city’s) culture and hor,’” Rubio wrote.

While Trump has lauded Chinese President Xi Jinping's work to respond to virus, Trump himself has referred to “China’s Coronavirus situation." Trump has been criticized for playing down virus, contricting his own public health officials and concentrating more on ecomic fallout from outbreak. In a speech to nation Wednesday night he referred to “foreign virus” that “started in China.” (He also worked in some digs at Europe for letting it spiral out of control re.)

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For most people, new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older ults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. vast majority of people recover from new virus. According to World Health Organization, people with mild illness recover in about two weeks, while those with more severe illness may take three to six weeks to recover. In mainland China, where virus first exploded, more than 80,000 people have been diagsed and more than 58,000 have so far recovered.

Health professionals, who depend on China for access to country, have publicly praised Beijing for its response, ting that it is difficult to spot a new virus during flu season when re are numerous alerts about atypical pneumonia and or respiratory problems.

On Capitol Hill, Robert Redfield, director of U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, praised China's work to control spre of coronavirus. "y really have w got control of ir outbreak," Redfield told House Oversight and Reform Committee on Wednesday.

Chinese health officials informed WHO about new virus on Dec. 31. By Jan. 8, it h been identified as a new coronavirus, a large family that causes common cold and more serious illnesses including SARS, which also began in China. By Jan. 12, Chinese scientists h sequenced virus’ genetic makeup and shared it with WHO, drawing praise for ir transparency and swift action.

O'Brien is right, however, in ting some missteps in China.

local Wuhan heath commission reported new cases from Jan. 5-10 and again from Jan. 12-16. China’s Lunar New Year rush — world’s largest annual human migration — began to get underway, with millions of people passing through Wuhan, a major transit hub. A recently submitted complaint to country's National Health Commission alleged that during this period, officials with Wuhan health commission told doctors y were t allowed to report about new virus, letting patients wander around freely inste of being isolated.

China's foreign ministry has taken offense at people blaming China. After Pompeo called it “Wuhan coronavirus,” ministry's spokesman said description was “despicable," disrespected science and stigmatized China.

Or Republicans also have specifically pointed how outbreak was first reported in China.

Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., a dentist who is self-quarantined after coming into contact with an infected individual, called it “Wuhan virus" and House Mirity Leer Kevin McCarthy called it “Chinese coronavirus."

On Thursday, leers of Asian Pacific American, Hispanic, Black and Native American congressional caucuses called on McCarthy and Gosar to apologize and ted that CDC's chief medical officer, Dr. Mitch Wolfe, has said, “Stigma is enemy of public health.”

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