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Letters | What is China not telling the world about the novel coronavirus?
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Why you can trust SCMP
China’s ambassador to the United States, Cui Tiankai, has pushed back against US statements about the novel coronavirus pneumonia, saying that “a lot is still unknown, and our scientists, Chinese scientist, American scientists, scientists of other countries are doing their best to learn more about the virus.”
Yet in August 2015, Nature – perhaps the most respected of all scientific journals – published a report titled: “A Sars-like cluster of circulating bat coronaviruses shows potential for human emergence”.
The article detailed complex morphological and transmission studies by an expert group including Dr Ge Xingyi and Dr Shi Zhengli of the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
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This impressive work, standard world-class virology, suggests that the ambassador misspoke. Five years ago, scientists in Wuhan already knew a great deal about such a virus; enough to make them worry about an outbreak similar to Sars, or the severe acute respiratory syndrome.
The inescapable conclusion is that even at this time of emergency, some key information is being withheld.
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Arthur Waldron, Lauder Professor, University of Pennsylvania
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