New US Report Accuses China Of Intentionally Hiding COVID-19 Outbreak Reality To Hoard Masks, Supplies

A new report released by the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials has accused China of hidings facts related to the severity of coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan when it was in its earliest stages.

The report further details the reasons why China hid the facts. The four-page intelligence report by the DHA highlights that the coronavirus outbreak in the early stages was not revealed by the Chinese government so that they have enough time to hoard medical supplies.

The reports suggest that Chinese officials "intentionally concealed the severity" of the COVID-19 outbreak, which started from Wuhan so that they can timely organize the supply of sufficient medical supply shipments to assist its citizens to respond effectively to the pandemic.

The DHA based their analysis on evidence that Beijing increased imports and reduced exports of medical supplies such as surgical gowns and masks in January when the COVID-19 outbreak was reported in Wuhan but the nature and severity of the outbreak were still being downplayed by China.

The report, which has been marked “for official use only” but as not classified, states that the imports of medical supplies in January increased sharply in China with a marked decline in exports. This was the time when Beijing hid information from the World Health Organization (WHO) and failed to inform the contagion nature of COVID-19 to the officials.

According to the Chinese government data, Beijing imported 2.5 billion pieces of epidemic personal protective equipment (PPE) in six weeks starting mid-January. This was before COVID-19 started affecting the masses in the rest of the world.

Weeks later, when COVID-19 finally started affecting the same countries that shipped PPEs to China, they found it difficult to manage their people and struggled to gather medical supplies for their use.

Chinese government’s role in downplaying the doctors and health experts who tried to warn the world about the nature of the COVID-19 pandemic has also been questioned several times in the past.

Even though there is no official evidence suggesting that the country intentionally delayed releasing information about COVID-19 outbreak in China to have enough time to hoard medical supplies, it is known that bureaucratic hurdles and tight control over the release of information may have resulted in a delayed response that China is being accused of globally.