A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting its boots on.” That statement, often attributed to Mark Twain, is especially true in the 21st century. In today’s age of social media it has unfortunately become normal to see false information reach a broad audience instantaneously.
It is bad enough when conspiracy-theory cranks spread dangerous misinformation around the world. It is far worse, and more dangerous, when malign misinformation is spread by a government’s officials, And that is exactly what the People’s Republic of China has been doing, spreading false accusations about the origin and spread of the coronavirus.
The facts about Covid-19 are undisputed. The outbreak originated in the city of Wuhan in China’s Hubei province. The government of China knew there was a new Sars-like virus in December. For a country that aspires to a global leadership role, China’s obligations to the international community were obvious — transparently share what it knew about the virus with world health officials and co-ordinate quickly with world governments to stop this highly contagious disease before it became a pandemic.
The Chinese government did not do this. First it tried to suppress the news. Then, it worked to protect its own population while selectively sharing critical information, such as genetic sequence data, and continuing to stonewall international health authorities that were offering assistance, requesting access and seeking more information. Had China done the right things at the right time, more of its own population, and the rest of the world, might have been spared the most serious impact of this disease. Instead, China accused other countries of spreading the virus and, when called out for this blatant and dangerous propaganda, its officials complained indignantly about the “politicisation” of the virus’s origin.
Full article:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/...turned-covid-19into-a-global-threat-cdqf7r02p