AFP: Top Chinese health official denies government covered up SARS epidemic

(Clearwisdom.net) BEIJING, May 30 - China's vice minister of health Gao Qiang Friday denied the government ever covered up the SARS epidemic and said a former vice minister was not sacked for covering up the outbreak.

"I cannot agree with you that Zhang Wenkang was relieved of his duties because of a cover-up. The Chinese government did not conceal the truth," Gao told a news briefing.

[...]

Zhang in April told reporters at a press conference that the disease was "effectively controlled" even as it was raging, but Gao insisted that did not amount to a coverup.

"I must say that does not represent an intentional effort by Zhang Wenkang to conceal the truth. It was mainly due to lack of information about the epidemic at the time," Gao said.

Independent doctors, however, said hospitals were told to cover up cases as the outbreak spread through Beijing in March, around the time of a key National People's Congress meeting to install a new, carefully selected leadership.

Health workers in Beijing interviewed by AFP also said they were not told to take any additional precautions even as late as early April.

The public was told there were only 30 or so cases in the capital even as late as April 19, a day before the government suddenly decided to reveal several hundred cases in the capital, and admitted many had occured as far back as March.

[...]

China has been widely criticized for foot-dragging and not informing its people and the world about the extent of the disease's spread until April 20, despite the epidemic first surfacing in November in Guangdong.

http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/ak/Qhealth-sars-china-hide.RPxA_DyU.html

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