China transparent in coronavirus response: UN envoy
13 February, 2020
China has handled the new coronavirus outbreak during a transparent and "highly responsible" way, the country's UN ambassador said Wednesday (Feb 13), after criticism that local authorities didn't react quickly enough.
Since its emergence within the central province of Hubei in December, the COVID-19 virus has killed quite 1,350 people and infected tens of thousands.
There are quite 500 infections in almost 30 countries and territories outside China , including two deaths.
"Facing the epidemic, we've always adopted an open, transparent and highly responsible attitude," Beijing's United Nations ambassador Zhang Jun told the UN Commission for Social Development.
"We have reported the epidemic information to the WHO, the relevant countries, and Hong Kong , Macau and Taiwan regions as soon because it is out there , shared the genetic sequences of the virus, actively communicated with other countries so as to return up with responses," he said.
Most of the cases are in Hubei, where about 56 million people are placed under virtual quarantine. Authorities have restricted the movements of individuals in several other cities faraway from the epicentre in an unprecedented containment effort.
"Not just for the sake of China, but also the planet , we've adopted rigorous prevention and control measures ... effectively curbing the spread of the epidemic," Zhang said.
China drew international condemnation for covering up cases during the 2002-03 SARS outbreak, whereas the planet Health Organization has praised measures taken by Beijing to combat COVID-19.
But anger erupted in China this month after the death of a doctor in Wuhan, the Hubei capital and virus epicentre, whom police silenced when he flagged the emerging virus in December.
Local authorities in Hubei and Wuhan had already faced rare, uncensored criticism online for initially downplaying the magnitude of the outbreak.
Critics say precious time was lost by the first inaction of the government .
Hubei and Wuhan officials held important political meetings within the first weeks of January. The price and number of cases only began to soar afterwards, going from one fatality on Jan 11 to quite 630 barely four weeks later.
"Addressing global public health issues may be a common challenge faced by all countries," Zhang said, calling for international cooperation.
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