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China hits out at claims it has covered up coronavirus reality

CHINA has hit out at “shameless” US claims that it has covered up the full reality of the coronavirus pandemic.

Beijing was responding to an escalating smear campaign, including allegations from US Republican Senator Rick Scott that the World Health Organisation (WHO) had colluded with China to spread “communist propaganda.”

Speaking at a news conference on Thursday, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said: “We are very sympathetic to the gravity of the situation in the United States, and we can understand that some people in the US want to get rid of the responsibility, but we do not want to get into any meaningless arguments.”

She accused US officials of “shamelessly attempting to slander, to discredit, to blame others,” warning that this approach was a diversion from the struggle against Covid-19 and would cause more loss of life.

Ms Hua insisted that those best qualified to judge the efficiency of the Chinese response were the WHO “and related experts in infectious diseases and medical control, not a few politicians who are full of lies.”

The propaganda war against China has been ignited as the pandemic is in danger of spiralling out of control in the US, where there are more than 250,000 confirmed Covid-19 cases and more than 6,000 have died so far.

US President Donald Trump is under increasing pressure, with nearly ten million US citizens registering as unemployed in the last two weeks.

Covid-19 was first detected in the city of Wuhan in China’s Hubei province. Swift action saw the lockdown of its 58-million population with aggressive contact-tracing measures and early testing introduced as part of the “people’s war” against the contagion.

“The measures taken by the Chinese government have been decisive, timely, and strong,” Ms Hua said. 

“We have worked, to the best of our capabilities, to protect the lives and welfare of the Chinese people … while buying the world valuable time to stem the pandemic. China has done its best to be open, transparent, and accountable,”

China has since led the global fight against the pandemic by sending medical experts and aid to the countries most affected by coronavirus, including Britain and the US.

But Ms Hua warned that the US has done “very little” to stop the spread of Covid-19 after China bought it months to prepare.

“We advise these politicians that, at this moment, they should put the safety of people's lives and health before politics,” she said.

“It is immoral and inhumane to continue to politicise a public-health issue, which should be condemned by all people of the world, including the people of the United States.”

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