China’s Xi knew of coronavirus two weeks earlier than thought
Chinese President Xi Jinping issued orders to halt the spread of the coronavirus outbreak two weeks earlier than previously thought, it emerged today.
China’s official Communist party magazine Qiushi today detailed a timeline of the President’s actions to combat the deadly virus, indicating he was aware of the severity of the outbreak a fortnight before revealing the information to the public.
The magazine said Xi met with party officials to issue instructions on a response to the virus on 7 January. However, the public were only warned about the seriousness of the outbreak — now dubbed Covid-19 — 13 days later on
20 January.
“I issued demands during a… meeting on 7 January for work to contain the outbreak,” Xi is quoted as saying. “On 20 January, I gave special instructions about the work to prevent and control the outbreak.”
During that time, hundreds of new cases of the illness were reported. On 18 January, a banquet of 40,000 families was given government approval to go ahead in the Chinese city of Wuhan —the epicentre of the virus — the Financial Times reported.
It comes amid growing claims that the Chinese government made attempts to downplay the extent of the virus.
Although initially praised by the World Health Organisation for his “political leadership” in handling the outbreak, Xi has since met with increasing scrutiny over his response.
The Chinese internet showed an outpouring of anger over the virus-related death of Li Wenliang — a doctor who was among the first healthcare workers to report on the outbreak — after he was reprimanded for “rumour-mongering” by Chinese state police.
Beijing’s latest figures showed more than 68,500 cases of the virus in China alone, bringing the number of deaths in the country to 1,665.
Meanwhile, more than 500 cases in 24 countries have now been reported outside China, with the first death in Europe confirmed over the weekend.