Wuhan doctor hailed for first reporting coronavirus defends China’s handling of outbreak saying there was no cover-up
- Zhang Jixian tells state media that the country ‘certainly did not conceal the relevant data’ from the rest of the world
- Interview comes as international team is preparing to head to China to investigate origins of outbreak
A Wuhan doctor hailed by Chinese state media as the first person to report the Covid-19 outbreak has hit back at international criticism of China’s early handling of the outbreak.
In a widely circulated interview with Global Times, Zhang Jixian, director of respiratory medicine at the Hubei Provincial Hospital of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, said the country “certainly did not conceal the relevant data on the epidemic”.
“After I first reported the outbreak situation, we started to regularly report the epidemic information to the world beginning from January 3, 2020 … the facts are so clear, how can it be called a cover-up?” said Zhang.
The article, published on Sunday, comes as the world marks one year since the news of the coronavirus first broke.
Meanwhile two international inquiries that will look into the early phase of the outbreak in China are under way.