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My Take | Transparency is China’s best chance of overcoming international suspicions over latest outbreak of respiratory illness
- The sight of hospitals packed with children has attracted widespread attention internationally and reawakened memories of the early days of Covid-19
- Beijing’s initial response to the pandemic created a trust deficit that it will struggle to overcome without releasing as much information as it can
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Why you can trust SCMP
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A spike in respiratory illnesses in China has attracted widespread attention around the world and reawakened the trauma of the pandemic years.
The reports of hospitals packed with children suffering pneumonia and other flu-like symptoms triggered flashbacks to the early stages of the pandemic in 2020
Last week the World Health Organization asked China for information about the reported clusters of “undiagnosed pneumonia”. In itself that request is standard practice, but the way it was publicised – via a press release – is unusual.
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In 2020, the WHO was criticised for its slow response in declaring Covid-19 to be a pandemic, while China was criticised for withholding information about the illness and telling the world that there had been no human-to-human transmission.
China has denied there was any cover-up, but for the past three years it has had to fight a fierce publicity battle to defend its reputation and restore international trust.
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That is why the response by the WHO and Beijing to this latest outbreak is so important for the image of both.
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