C.VIRUS ARTICLE-CHINESE AUTHORITIES KNEW MORE THAN ADMITTED AT FIRST—DELAY OF TRUTH —PUBLIC ANGER
NIKKI SUN and COCO LIU, Nikkei staff writers
January 31, 2020 03:24 JST Updated on January 31, 2020 14:10 JST
A woman wearing a face mask uses her cellphone as she walks outside Beijing Railway Station as the country is hit by an outbreak of the new coronavirus on Jan. 30. © Reuters
TOKYO/HONG KONG — The deadly new coronavirus from Wuhan was spreading from person to person as early as mid-December, weeks before China officially confirmed such transmission, government-funded Chinese researchers report in a top American medical journal.
The paper in the New England Journal of Medicine analyzes data on the first 425 confirmed cases in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the outbreak originated.
“On the basis of this information, there is evidence that human-to-human transmission has occurred among close contacts since the middle of December 2019,” it reads. The paper notes that seven health care workers contracted the virus between Jan. 1 and Jan. 11 — significant evidence of human-to-human transmission.
The findings sharply contrast with the accounts of Wuhan health authorities who had maintained until mid-January that there was “no clear evidence” that the virus could be passed among humans. Officials also claimed Jan. 11 that no health care workers had been infected.
Public acknowledgment only came Jan. 20 via an interview with an expert commissioned by the National Health Commission on state broadcaster CCTV.
The paper also found that only 55% of the 47 infected patients before Jan. 1 were linked to the seafood and live-animal market thought to be ground zero. This means that other patients either got infected elsewhere or from other people. ...snip...
THEORY ON TIMING OF PERP WALKS:
Paul Sperry @paulsperry_
Because Barr & Durham cannot assume Trump will be reelected, they know they have only a 10-month, 12-month max, window to get their arms around and prosecute an enormous public corruption/criminal conspiracy scandal. Expect the first perp walks by summer, if not sooner.
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12:40 PM - Jan 31, 2020