Paper on human transmission of coronavirus sets off social media storm in China
- Research based on first 425 cases in Wuhan finds disease was being spread among close contacts since mid-December
- But that was only confirmed by health authorities on January 20, and internet users accuse them of withholding information
Angry Chinese internet users have accused health authorities of withholding information about the coronavirus, after a paper showed it was being transmitted between humans a month before that was officially confirmed.
At the time, health authorities said no evidence had been found to prove the pneumonia-like illness was being spread from human to human – it was only confirmed by prominent epidemiologist Zhong Nanshan on January 20.
The paper was written by dozens of Chinese medical experts, including researchers from the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), based on data from the first 425 confirmed cases in Wuhan, where the outbreak began last month.
The coronavirus has killed 213 people and sickened more than 9,700 in China so far, with dozens more cases confirmed elsewhere, and the World Health Organisation has declared it a global public health emergency.
The paper was widely circulated on Chinese social media, with many people criticising the experts, accusing them of sitting on the information so that they could publish the research to help their careers, and questioning whether there was a cover-up of the outbreak.