China CDC chief defends early outbreak action: ‘I never said there was no human-to-human transmission’
- George Gao Fu says medical team concluded ‘very efficient’ transmission between people as soon as it visited Wuhan
- TV interview comes amid allegations of secrecy and cover-up in China
“No, I never said [there’s] no human-to-human transmission in the public – never, ever,” George Gao Fu, director of the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, told state media China Global Television Network in the interview aired on Monday.
“Even from the very beginning, I don’t think it’s good [to] put any scientists in a position to say there's no human-to-human transmission because these viruses are unknown,” Gao said.
The Covid-19 virus has infected more than 83,000 people in China and killed more than 4,600 since the outbreak began, according to China’s National Health Commission (NHC).
“Yet the risk of sustained human-to-human transmission is rather low,” according to the online statement.
In the interview, Gao said a senior advisory group had concluded there was “very efficient” transmission between people after its visit on January 19 to Wuhan, China’s epicentre of the Covid-19 outbreak.
Hong Kong microbiologist Yuen Kwok-yung, Chinese leading respiratory disease specialist Zhong Nanshan, renowned Chinese epidemiologist Li Lanjuan and Gao were part of the six-member advisory group sent by the NHC.
On January 20, Zhong publicly confirmed and state news agency Xinhua reported that human-to-human transmission of the virus had occurred, citing two cases in southeast Guangdong province.
“At first, it was spread from animals to humans. However, the virus has since been mutating and has become adaptive to its host,” Gao said at the press conference, according to a transcript from CGTN. “Human-to-human transmission has occurred, and there has been some community transmission.”
“Human-to-human transmission among close contacts has occurred since the middle of December and spread out gradually within a month after that,” the article said.
