Families of Covid-19 victims in Wuhan say they are being silenced

Relatives of Wuhan’s coronavirus dead on Wednesday said Chinese authorities have deleted their social media group and are pressuring them to keep quiet while a World Health Organization team is in the city to investigate the pandemic’s origins.

Scores of relatives have banded together online in a shared quest for accountability from Wuhan officials who they blame for mishandling the outbreak that tore through the city one year ago. The effort has thus far been thwarted by official obstruction, monitoring of social media groups and intimidation, say next-of-kin. But pressure has escalated in recent days, apparently to muzzle any criticism and avoid embarrassment during the WHO investigation.

A group on social media platform Wechat used by 80 to 100 family members over the past year was suddenly deleted without explanation about 10 days ago, said Zhang Hai, a group member.

“This shows that (Chinese authorities) are very nervous. They are afraid that these families will get in touch with the WHO experts,” said Zhang, 51, whose father died early in the pandemic of suspected Covid-19.

The WHO experts arrived in

Wuhan on January 14 and are due to emerge from a 14-day quarantine on Thursday.

Other next-of-kin confirmed the group’s deletion. Wechat is operated by Chinese firm Tencent.

Relatives accuse the Wuhan and Hubei provincial governments of allowing Covid-19 to explode out of control by trying to conceal the outbreak when it first emerged in the city in December 2019, then failing to alert the public and bungling the response.

According to official figures, Covid-19 killed nearly 3,900 in Wuhan, accounting for the vast majority of the 4,636 dead China has reported. Many next-of-kin distrust those numbers.

While China has broadly controlled the pandemic, it has frustrated independent attempts to trace its origins. Instead, it has sought to deflect blame for the worldwide human and economic toll by suggesting, without proof, that it emerged elsewhere.

Another family member, a retiree who says her adult daughter died of the virus last January, told AFP she was warned by authorities not to “speak to media or be used by others”. Several Wuhan relatives have tried to file lawsuits seeking compensation and punishment of officials, but say courts have refused to accept them.