From: CNN :
Coverups early on
Early in the outbreak, which China did not appropriately warn the world about, Chinese officials blamed transmission on an early hotspot, a seafood market in Wuhan, although that seems now to be essentially a lie, according to Metzl.
In fact, there's ample evidence the Chinese government tried to cover the existence of the virus up. In February, CNN published a look at whistleblowers and truthtellers who warned of the virus as it was taking hold, and who paid the price. Some have gone missing, others have been detained by Chinese authorities, while others contracted and died from Covid.
That report includes a timeline of warnings from doctors in China compared to inaction by the government.
"Whatever the origin of the pandemic, that first month when China was spending all of its energy trying to cover things up rather than fix the problem, that was what allowed the stove fire to become a kitchen fire to become a house fire to become a world fire," Metzl said.
China has been unwilling to submit to an open investigation; it insisted on strict parameters for the earlier WHO study. The US government and others have criticized that lack of transparency and the WHO has also called for further study. The Biden administration has re-joined the WHO after the Trump administration pulled the US from the global health organization.
From: CNN