Coronavirus: Chinese Embassy slams claims of ‘cover-up’

The Chinese Embassy in Australia says China can’t be blamed for ‘spread of virus to the world’.

A resident wearing a mask against the coronavirus looks at a giant globe in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province on Monday. Picture: Ng Han Guan/AP

The Chinese Embassy in Australia has accused “some politicians and media” of spreading misinformation on China’s handling of the coronavirus, hitting back with a statement “highlighting the facts as opposed to the fallacies”.

The statement attempts to respond to the “fallacy” that “China’s early cover-up has allowed the virus to disperse from Wuhan to the world”, insisting China acted in a timely fashion to control the virus and that it shouldn’t be blamed for “allowing the spread of the virus to the world”.

Most Australian cases ‘from Europe, cruise ships’

The Embassy asserts that the majority of Australia’s cases were imported from Europe and related to cruise ship arrivals.

“The coronavirus is novel virus unseen in the past (sic). Naturally the detection, research, testing and confirmation of COVID-19 requires time. Any responsible government confronting such a challenge must gather necessary and solid scientific evidence before making an announcement,” the Embassy’s statement says.

“As is seen by all, China is fast, open, transparent and responsible in epidemic response and information sharing. The Chinese government took the most comprehensive, thorough and rigorous prevention and control measures at the earliest time possible, which have been proven to be highly effective and brought precious time for the world to prepare.

A resident wearing mask and suit against the coronavirus cycles in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province on Sunday. Picture: Ng Han Guan/AP

“As the WHO puts it, China has taken the most courageous, most flexible and most active measures, which altered the dangerous course of the virus’ quick spread and prevented hundreds of thousands of infections nationwide.”

“When Australia announced a total travel ban on China on Feb 1st, there are only 15 confirmed cases in Australia. Even after a period of time until Feb 19, the total confirmed cases in Australia still remained at 15. But from the beginning of March, increase (sic) of the confirmed cases in Australia started to accelerate.

“According to the pie charts depicting COVID-19 cases acquired overseas, released by the Health Department of Australia, the largest group of confirmed cases came from Europe. The second acquired (sic) from cruise ships, and the third imported from the Americas. The three (sic) accounted for more than 80 per cent of all the cases acquired overseas. And the locally acquired cases in Australia accounted for more than 30% of all cases.

“The virus respects no borders and every country affected is the victim of it. Facing the scourge of our common enemy, we must pull together to win this battle. Playing politics and shifting blame will lead us to nowhere. China stands ready to continue its co-operation with the rest of the world to beat the virus.”