Chinese journalist jailed for revealing Wuhan truth as coronavirus vaccine brings hope

A Chinese citizen journalist has been jailed for four years for her reporting from Wuhan as the COVID-19 outbreak unfurled.

Police push back crowds outside a Shanghai court where Chinese citizen journalist Zhang Zhan was jailed for four years on Monday. Picture: AFP

A Chinese citizen journalist has been jailed for four years for reporting from Wuhan as the COVID-19 outbreak unfurled, almost a year after details of an “unknown viral pneumonia” surfaced in the central China city.

Zhang Zhan, a former lawyer, was sentenced at a brief hearing in a Shanghai court on Monday for allegedly “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” for her reporting in the chaotic initial stages of the outbreak.

Her live reports and essays were widely shared on social media platforms in February, grabbing the attention of authorities, who have so far punished eight virus whistleblowers.

Beijing has congratulated itself for “extraordinary” success in controlling the virus inside its borders, with an economy on the rebound while much of the rest of the world stutters through painful lockdowns and surging caseloads a year on from the start of the pandemic in Wuhan.

Controlling the information flow during an unprecedented global health crisis has been pivotal in allowing China’s communist authorities to reframe the narrative in their favour.

“Zhang Zhan looked devastated when the sentence was ­announced,” Ren Quanniu, one of Zhang’s defence lawyers, said outside Shanghai Pudong New District People’s Court on ­Monday.

The trial comes just weeks ­before a team of World Health Organisation experts is expected to arrive in China to investigate COVID-19.

And it follows international calls — led by Australia — for an independent inquiry into the ­origins of the coronavirus, calls which have triggered a severe backlash from Chinese authorities.

Authorities want to use Zhang’s case “as an example to scare off other dissidents from raising questions about the pandemic situation in Wuhan earlier this year”, said Leo Lan, research and advocacy consultant at the Chinese Human Rights Defenders NGO.

The trial came as top US government scientist Anthony Fauci warned the worst of the pandemic may be yet to come, driving the country to a “critical point” as holiday travel spreads the coronavirus.

“I share the concern of President-elect (Joe) Biden that as we get into the next few weeks, it might actually get worse,” the ­infectious disease specialist told CNN.

Mr Biden cautioned on ­Wednesday that the nation’s “darkest days are ahead of us — not behind us”.

Lidia Navarro, 84, is hugged by a nurse before becoming one of the first to receive the vaccine in Spain. Picture: Getty Images

Dr Fauci, who has been ­encouraging everyone eligible to be vaccinated, revealed he felt fine after receiving a first shot and ­experienced “nothing serious at all”. Surgeon General Jerome Adams added on ABC that, like Dr Fauci, he was “very concerned” about a post-holiday surge.

US holiday travel this year was down substantially on the festive season last year but remained ­significant.

Air travel averaged more than one million passengers a day for six consecutive days last week, ­according to the Transportation Security Agency.

Following last month’s Thanksgiving holiday, US coronavirus cases surged sharply in December, with more than 200,000 new cases and at times more than 3000 deaths a day.

With intensive care units in many hospitals near capacity, Dr Fauci reiterated that the country might be facing a “surge upon a surge”.

But with new vaccines now moving across the country — going first to frontline health workers and those in long-term care facilities — Americans have finally seen a glimmer of hope.

It comes as vaccines are also rolled out across Europe, with the first of 450 million citizens receiving jabs on Sunday (Monday AEDT).

“Today we start turning the page on a difficult year,” ­European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said. “The COVID-19 vaccine has been ­delivered to all EU countries.”

Italian Prime Minister ­Giuseppe Conte said: “Today Italy reawakens. It’s Vaccine Day.” His comments came after a 29-year-old nurse at a hospital in Rome became the first Italian to be inoculated.

AFP