Medlemmer av WHO-delegasjonen som endelig har sluppet inn for å undersøke hvor viruset stammer fra, blir screenet på flyplassen i Wuhan 14. januar. Foto: Ng Han Guan / AP / NTB

USAs helseminister Alex Azar sa torsdag at USA først fikk vite om koronaviruset gjennom mediene og Taiwan. Kina har ennå ikke gitt USA virusprøver slik de ba om for ett år siden. Kina benektet at viruset smittet mellom mennesker, og ble støttet i dette synet av Verdens helseorganisasjon (WHO). Hadde utbruddet skjedd i et demokratisk land, hadde det aldri blitt en pandemi, sa Azar.

“Let’s consider when and how the United States became aware of the virus,” the nation’s health chief said. “We learned about an outbreak of pneumonia of unknown origin in Wuhan, China on December 30, not through that country’s official channels, as required under the International Health Regulations, but through media monitoring that we do, as well as through a notification from Taiwan’s Economic and Cultural Office here in the United States.”

“That’s right: One of the very first ways the U.S. government was notified of a novel virus in mainland China was by people from Taiwan,” he continued, pointing to the fact Beijing would not publicly admit the first death caused by the CCP virus had occurred until Jan. 11, nearly two weeks after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) began developing situation reports on the outbreak.

Først 17. februar fikk et team av internasjonale eksperter lov til å gjøre undersøkelser i felt i Kina. Men da var katta allerede ute av sekken, sa Azar.

Det kinesiske myndigheter insisterte på, var at det var mennesker som hadde vært på dyremarkedet i Wuhan som ble smittet. Men amerikanske myndigheter forsto at viruset smittet fra menneske til menneske.

Kina har villet gi et inntrykk av at de har situasjonen under kontroll, men dette er en ren PR-øvelse. Kina har stadig nye utbrudd, og nå er 11 millioner mennesker i karantene.

Two weeks into 2021, however, China is experiencing a series of major outbreaks in its northern heartland. Shijiazhuang, which lies about 160 miles southwest of Beijing, has been placed under strict lockdown along with its 11 million residents after new clusters of infections emerged there.

“China has spent the better part of this year shamelessly promoting an Orwellian version of events, designed to persuade the world that its authoritarian form of government is best suited to respond to a public health crisis,” Azar said. “The facts are, however, that if a novel virus like this had emerged in a democratic nation, a global outbreak might never have occurred.”

Alex Azar on CCP Coverup of Pandemic: We Learned About the Virus From Taiwan