BEIJING DENIES IT DELAYED COVID-19 INFO SHARING

BEIJING China said on Wednesday a news report that said it delayed sharing COVID-19 information with the World Health Organization (WHO) is totally untrue.

Foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian made the remarks during a daily briefing in response to a question about the report by The Associated Press, which said the WHO was frustrated by significant delays in information sharing by Beijing as the coronavirus outbreak took hold in China in January.

According to one recording, Maria Van Kerkhove, an epidemiologist in the United States and WHO technical lead for COVID-19, told a meeting in the second week of January: “We’re going on very minimal information. It’s clearly not enough for you to do proper planning.”

At another meeting, Dr. Gauden Galea, WHO’S top official in China, pictured, complains about getting information just before it was released by state broadcaster, China Central Television.