COVID-19 timeline; whistleblower; WHO

[cmm3rd]

Interesting article (accuracy unconfirmed) setting out detailed timeline, starting Dec. 31, 2019, about various events surrounding COVID-19's development and reporting. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/01/ ... 54884.html

Includes brief video re Li Wenliang, a Wuhan doctor who, after treating several patients (wet market visitors or employees), was among the first to sound the alarm to his medical colleagues (on December 30) about a new, SARS-like contagious disease re which they needed to take protective precautions. He was soon thereafter summoned to a police station where he was forced to acknowledge wrongdoing, but was later released and continued treating patients. He himself got infected, and he died on Feb. 7.

More about Dr. Li here: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanc ... 2/fulltext
Excerpt: In the days before his death, Li said “If the officials had disclosed information about the epidemic earlier I think it would have been a lot better”, in an interview with The New York Times. “There should be more openness and transparency”, he said.

Indeed. What did Chinese health authorities know, and when did they know it?

Apparently, some officials knew in December: "In Wuhan, local leaders were accused of telling doctors in December not to publicize the spreading virus in order to avoid casting a shadow over the annual meeting of a local legislative body." https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/20/china-e ... virus.html

Opinion piece. https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/08/opinions ... index.html

Where was WHO in all of this? When was human-to-human transmissibility reported to the world? Per the timeline linked above:

"On December 31 last year, China alerted WHO to several cases of unusual pneumonia in Wuhan, a port city of 11 million people in the central Hubei province. The virus was unknown."

"On January 7, officials announced they had identified a new virus, according to the WHO. The novel virus was named 2019-nCoV and was identified as belonging to the coronavirus family, which includes SARS and the common cold."

"On January 13, the WHO reported a case in Thailand, the first outside of China, in a woman who had arrived from Wuhan."

"On January 20, China reported a third death and more than 200 infections, with cases also reported outside Hubei province including in the capital Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. Meanwhile, a Chinese expert on infectious diseases confirmed human-to-human transmission to state broadcaster CCTV, raising fears of a major outbreak as millions travelled for the Lunar New Year holiday.
Asian countries ramped up measures to block the spread of the virus, introducing mandatory screenings at airports of all arrivals from high-risk areas of China."

"On January 22, the death toll in China jumped to 17 with more than 550 infections. Many European airports stepped up checks on flights from Wuhan. Wuhan was placed under effective quarantine on January 23 as air and rail departures were suspended."

"The WHO said later on January 23 that the outbreak did not yet constitute a public emergency of international concern and there was "no evidence" of the virus spreading between humans outside of China."

"On January 26, the death toll rose to 56, with almost 2,000 cases confirmed as travel restrictions were increased and Hong Kong closed its Disneyland and Ocean Park theme parks. New cases were confirmed in the US, Taiwan, Thailand, Japan and South Korea."

"On January 30, the WHO declared coronavirus a global emergency as the death toll in China jumped to 170, with 7,711 cases reported in the country, where the virus had spread to all 31 provinces."

[cmm3rd]

Despite all of the events that have come to light, China, joined by WHO, criticized the U.S. for having imposed, on Jan. 31, temporary restrictions on travelers from China into the U.S.