CHINA DELAYED RELEASING CORONAVIRUS INFO, FRUSTRATING WHO

Associated Press 2 June 2020

Throughout January, the World Health Organization publicly praised China for what it called a speedy response to the new coronavirus and thanked the Chinese government for sharing the genetic map of the virus “immediately,."

But in fact, Chinese officials sat on releasing the genetic map, or genome, of the deadly virus for over a week after multiple government labs had fully decoded it, not sharing details key to designing tests, drugs and vaccines. Strict controls on information and competition within the Chinese public health system were largely to blame, The Associated Press has found from internal documents, emails and dozens of interviews. 

© Provided by Associated Press FILE - In this Thursday, Feb. 23, 2017 file photo, Shi Zhengli works with other researchers in a lab at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province. On Dec. 30, 2019, Wuhan health officials issued an internal notice warning of an unusual pneumonia, which leaked on social media. That evening, Shi, famous for having traced the SARS virus to a bat cave, was alerted to the new disease, according to an interview with Scientific American. Shi took the first train from a conference in Shanghai back to Wuhan. (Chinatopix via AP)

Health officials only released the genome after a Chinese lab published it ahead of authorities on a virology website on Jan 11. Even then, China stalled for at least two weeks more on giving WHO the details it needed, according to recordings of multiple internal meetings held by the U.N. health agency in January — all at a time when the outbreak arguably might have been dramatically slowed.

© Provided by Associated Press FILE - In this Tuesday, March 10, 2020 file photo, a giant TV screen at a quiet shopping mall in Beijing shows President Xi Jinping talking to medical workers at the Huoshenshan Hospital in Wuhan in central China's Hubei Province, during a visit to the center of the global virus outbreak Tuesday. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Although WHO continued to publicly commend China, the recordings obtained by the AP show they were concerned China was not sharing enough information to assess the risk posed by the new virus, costing the world valuable time.

“We’re currently at the stage where yes, they’re giving it to us 15 minutes before it appears on CCTV,” said WHO’s top official in China, Dr. Gauden Galea, referring to the state-owned China Central Television, in one meeting.

The story behind the early response to the pandemic comes at a time when the U.N. health agency is under siege. U.S. President Trump cut ties with WHO on Friday, after blasting the agency for allegedly colluding with China to hide the extent of the epidemic. Chinese President Xi Jinping said China has always provided information to WHO and the world “in a most timely fashion.”

The new information does not support the narrative of either the U.S. or China, but portrays an agency now stuck in the middle that was urgently trying to solicit more data. Although international law obliges countries to report information to WHO that could have an impact on public health, the U.N. agency has no enforcement powers. Instead, it must rely on the cooperation of member states.

© Provided by Associated Press FILE - In this Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2020 file photo, workers arrange beds in a convention center that has been converted into a temporary hospital in Wuhan in central China's Hubei Province as the government announced the number of COVID-19 coronavirus infections surpassed 20,000. Throughout January, the World Health Organization publicly praised China for what it called a speedy response to the new coronavirus. It repeatedly thanked the Chinese government for sharing the genetic map of the virus “immediately,” and said its work and its commitment to transparency were “very impressive, and beyond words.” But behind the scenes, it was a much different story, one of significant delays by China and considerable frustration among WHO officials over not getting the information they needed to fight the spread of the deadly virus, The Associated Press has found. (Chinatopix via AP)

The AP has found rather than colluding with China, WHO was itself largely kept in the dark, as China gave it only the minimal information required. But the agency did attempt to portray China in the best light, most likely to coax the country into providing more outbreak details.

WHO officials worried about how to press China for more information without angering authorities or jeopardizing Chinese scientists, whom they praised for decoding the genome with astonishing speed. Dr. Michael Ryan, WHO’s emergencies chief, said the best way to “protect China” was for WHO to do its own independent analysis, because otherwise the spread of the virus between people would be in question and “other countries will take action accordingly.”

From the time the virus was first decoded on Jan. 2 to when WHO declared a global emergency on Jan. 30, the outbreak grew by a factor of 100 to 200 times, according to retrospective Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention data.

WHO and officials named in this story declined to answer questions asked by the AP without audio or written transcripts of the recorded meetings, which the AP was unable to supply to protect its sources.

© Provided by Associated Press FILE - In this Monday, March 9, 2020 file photo, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, second left, director-general of the World Health Organization speaks during a news conference on updates regarding on the COVID-19 coronavirus at WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. At left is Michael Ryan, executive director of WHO's Health Emergencies program, and at third left is Maria van Kerkhove, technical lead of WHO's Health Emergencies program. Two days later, the WHO declared the new coronavirus a pandemic, suggesting the disease is spreading across the globe unchecked. WHO staffers debated how to press China for gene sequences and detailed patient data without angering authorities, worried about losing access and getting Chinese scientists into trouble. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP)“Our leadership and staff have worked night and day….to support and share information with all Member States equally, and engage in frank and forthright conversations with governments at all levels,” a WHO statement said.

China’s National Health Commission and Ministry of Foreign Affairs had no comment. But in the past few months, China has repeatedly defended its actions, and many other countries — including the U.S. — have responded to the virus with even longer delays of weeks and even months.

© Provided by Associated Press FILE - In this Sunday, Jan. 26, 2020 file photo, Gao Fu, foreground left, the head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, speaks to journalists after a news conference about a virus outbreak at the State Council Information Office in Beijing. On Dec. 31, 2019, Gao dispatched a team of experts to Wuhan. Also on Dec. 31, the World Health Organization first learned about the cases from an open-source platform that scouts for intelligence on outbreaks, emergencies chief Michael Ryan has said. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

In late December, doctors noticed mysterious clusters of patients with unusual pneumonia. Seeking answers, they sent samples to commercial labs. By Dec. 27, one company, Vision Medicals, had pieced together most of the genome of a new virus with striking similarities to SARS. They alerted Wuhan officials, who, days later, issued internal notices warning of the unusual pneumonia.

© Provided by Associated Press FILE - In this Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020 file photo, Dr. Gauden Galea, the World Health Organization representative in China, speaks during an interview at the WHO offices in Beijing. WHO staffers debated how to press China for gene sequences and detailed patient data without angering authorities, worried about losing access and getting Chinese scientists into trouble. Under international law, WHO is required to share information and alerts with member countries about an evolving crisis quickly. Galea noted WHO could not afford to indulge China’s wish to sign off on such information and wait days before informing other countries because “that is not respectful of our responsibilities.” (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

On Dec. 30, Shi Zhengli, a renowned coronavirus expert at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, was alerted to the disease, and by Jan. 2, her team had fully decoded it.

But when it came to sharing the genome with the world, things went awry. China’s top medical authority, the National Health Commission, issued a confidential notice forbidding labs from publishing about the virus without authorization. The order barred Shi’s lab from publishing the sequence or warning of the possible danger.

© Provided by Associated Press FILE - In this March 2, 2020 photo released by Xinhua News Agency, respiratory specialist Zhong Nanshan attends an oath-taking ceremony via video connections for two new probationary Communist Party members in Wuhan to take the oath of joining the Communist Party of China, in Guangzhou, southern China's Guangdong Province. On Jan. 20, Zhong declared publicly for the first time that the new virus was spreading between people. Chinese President Xi Jinping called for the “timely publication of epidemic information and deepening of international cooperation.” Despite that directive, WHO staff still struggled to obtain enough detailed patient data from China about the rapidly evolving outbreak. (Deng Hua/Xinhua via AP)

Commission officials later said the order was to prevent any accidental release of the then-unknown pathogen, and to ensure consistent results by giving it to four state labs to identify at the same time.

By Jan. 5, two other government labs sequenced the virus, and another lab in Shanghai led by Zhang Yongzhen had also decoded it. Zhang warned the National Health Commission the virus was “likely infectious.” The Chinese CDC raised its emergency level to the second highest, but did not have the authority to alert the public.

© Provided by Associated Press FILE - In this Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2020 file photo, Maria van Kerkhove, head of the Outbreak Investigation Task Force for the World Health Organization speaks during a news conference regarding the COVID-19 coronavirus, at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. On Jan. 8, the Wall Street Journal reported that scientists had identified a new coronavirus in samples from pneumonia patients in Wuhan, pre-empting and embarrassing Chinese officials. A Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention lab technician told The Associated Press they first learned about the discovery of the virus from the Journal. The article also embarrassed WHO officials. Van Kerkhove acknowledged WHO was “already late” in announcing the new virus and told colleagues that it was critical to push China. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP)

Suspicious cases starting surfacing across the region. In Thailand, airport officials pulled aside a woman traveling from Wuhan with a runny nose, sore throat and high temperature. Scientists at Chulalongkorn University soon figured out she was infected with a new coronavirus, but did not have a sequence from China to match it.

WHO officials, meanwhile, grumbled in internal meetings that China was stalling on providing crucial outbreak details even though it was technically meeting its obligations under international law. Ryan, WHO’s emergencies chief, said it was time to “shift gears” and push for more information.

© Provided by Associated Press FILE - In this Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2020 file photo, people wearing face masks walk down a deserted street in Wuhan in central China's Hubei Province. Throughout January, the World Health Organization publicly praised China for what it called a speedy response to the new coronavirus. It repeatedly thanked the Chinese government for sharing the genetic map of the virus “immediately,” and said its work and its commitment to transparency were “very impressive, and beyond words.” But behind the scenes, it was a much different story, one of significant delays by China and considerable frustration among WHO officials over not getting the information they needed to fight the spread of the deadly virus, The Associated Press has found. (AP Photo/Arek Rataj)

“The danger now is that despite our good intent...there will be a lot of finger-pointing at WHO if something does happen,” he said.

On Jan. 11, Shanghai’s Zhang finally published the coronavirus sequence ahead of health authorities on virological.org, used by researchers to swap tips on pathogens. It was only then that the Chinese CDC, Wuhan Institute of Virology and the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences raced to publish their sequences, doing so on Jan. 12.

© Provided by Associated Press FILE - In this Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2020 file photo, Michael Ryan, executive director of the World Health Organization's Health Emergencies program, speaks during a news conference at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. In the second week of January, Ryan told colleagues it was time to “shift gears” and apply more pressure on China, fearing a repeat of the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome that started in China in 2002 and killed nearly 800 people worldwide. “This is exactly the same scenario, endlessly trying to get updates from China about what was going on,” he said. “WHO barely got out of that one with its neck intact given the issues that arose around transparency in southern China.” (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP)

On Jan. 20, Chinese authorities warned the virus spread between people. WHO dispatched a small team to Wuhan from its Asia offices. China representative Galea told colleagues the Chinese were “talking openly and consistently about human-to-human transmission.”

WHO’s emergency committee of independent experts met twice that week and decided against recommending an emergency. But the agency's concern prompted an unusual trip to Beijing by WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and top scientists.

At the end of Tedros’ trip, WHO convened another emergency meeting, finally declaring a global emergency on Jan. 30. Tedros thanked China profusely, declining to mention any of WHO’s earlier frustrations.

© Provided by Associated Press FILE - In this Friday, May 22, 2020 file photo, delegates applaud as President Xi Jinping arrives for the opening session of China's National People's Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Throughout January, the World Health Organization publicly praised China for what it called a speedy response to the new coronavirus. It repeatedly thanked the Chinese government for sharing the genetic map of the virus “immediately,” and said its work and its commitment to transparency were “very impressive, and beyond words.” But behind the scenes, it was a much different story, one of significant delays by China and considerable frustration among WHO officials over not getting the information they needed to fight the spread of the deadly virus, The Associated Press has found. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, Pool)

“We should have actually expressed our respect and gratitude to China for what it’s doing,” he said. “It has already done incredible things to limit the transmission of the virus to other countries.”