China defends slow sharing of vital virus info

CHINESE officials have released a lengthy report on the nation’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, defending their government’s actions and saying China provided information in a timely and transparent manner.

China “wasted no time” in sharing information such as the genome sequence for the new virus with the World Health Organisation as well as relevant countries and regional organisations, the report says.

An Associated Press investigation found that government labs sat on releasing the genetic map of the virus for more than a week in January, delaying its identification in a third country and the sharing of information needed to develop tests, drugs and a vaccine.

National health commission chairman Ma Xiaowei did not address those specific findings, but said it “seriously goes against the facts”, adding that there were many unknowns in the early stage of the outbreak and that it took time to gather evidence and figure out the characteristics of the new virus.

He ticked off a series of government actions from a detailed timeline in the government report. The timeline says that China began updating the WHO on a regular basis on January 3 and that the head of China’s Centre for Disease Control and Prevention briefed the head of the US CDC on January 4.

US officials have been critical of China’s early response, adding to a deterioration of US-China relations over trade and technology and protests in Hong Kong.

Without naming the US, vice foreign minister Ma Zhaoxu said: “Certain countries go against the tide of history. To disguise their inadequate response to Covid-19, they insanely smeared and slandered China ... In response to such scapegoating practice, China will certainly fight back.”