Chinese leaders "intentionally concealed the severity" of the pandemic from the world in early January, according to a four-page Department of Homeland Security intelligence report dated May 1.
Not classified but marked "for official use only," the
Department of Homeland Security analysis states that, while downplaying
the severity of the coronavirus, China increased imports and decreased
exports of medical supplies. It attempted to cover
up doing so by "denying there were export restrictions and obfuscating
and delaying provision of its trade data," the analysis states.
The
report also says China held off informing the World Health Organisation
that the coronavirus "was a contagion" for much of January so it could
order medical supplies from abroad — and that its imports of face masks
and surgical gowns and gloves increased sharply......China informed the WHO of the outbreak on December 31. It contacted the
US Centres for Disease Control on January 3 and publicly identified the
pathogen as a novel coronavirus on January 8.
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