Coronavirus outbreak has contaminated the truth

China’s astonishing ability to build a functioning 1,000-bed hospital in 10 days must rank as one of the wonders of the modern world. A second such facility, with 1,600 beds, is due to open today. Amazing.

South Africans, who are accustomed to seeing big projects take much longer than expected, look with envy. Imagine how much better our lives would be if Eskom’s Medupi and Kusile power stations were built with similar speed.

For starters, we would not have rolling outages, punctuated by confusing communication, effectively information blackouts.

But let’s not forget there’s a propaganda war afoot. China is on show. The reputational stakes extend beyond the number of deaths, etc. While the hospitals’ speedy construction has drawn praise, not everyone has forgotten the tardy response when the seriousness of the coronavirus outbreak first became apparent.

And the country that gave the world Sars (severe acute respiratory syndrome) in 2003 has ushered in a more deadly cousin. Remember, China was also accused of reacting late to so-called African swine fever (“China Responds Slowly, and a Pig Disease Becomes a Lethal Epidemic”, New York Times, 17 December 2019).

US-based Professor Minxin Pei says China’s initial mishandling of the coronavirus crisis “means that thousands will be infected, hundreds may die and the economy, already weakened by debt and the trade war, will take another hit”.

In a syndicated article headlined “The Coronavirus Is a Disease of Chinese Autocracy”, Minxin says the survival of China’s one-party state depends on secrecy, media suppression, and constraints on civil liberties.

He says that in order to maintain its authority, the Communist Party of China (CPC) must keep the public convinced that everything is going according to plan.

According to Minxin, this includes covering up scandals that reflect poorly upon the CPC leadership, instead of doing what is necessary.

For example, although the first coronavirus case was reported on December 8, the Wuhan municipal health commission didn’t issue an official notice until several weeks later. The notice said there was no evidence the illness could be transmitted between humans. It also said no healthcare workers had been infected. On 5 January, when 59 cases had been confirmed, the commission repeated these claims.

“Even after the first death was reported on January 11, the commission continued to insist there was no evidence that it could be transmitted among humans or that healthcare workers had been affected”.

Since the bubble burst, China has been flooding the media with news and propaganda. Sceptics doubt some of the quoted figures, while the bias in Chinese commentary is bizarre.

SA’s readiness is praised as the “best in Africa, best in the developed world”, even though one of the designated hospitals is Tembisa, where 10 babies died last year during a Carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae outbreak. Our border controls are execrable and the effectiveness of thermal scanners in doubt.

While South Africa is praised, China singles out the US for spreading fear and overreacting “inappropriately”. The US has warned American citizens to avoid China, and barred entry to most foreigners who visited China recently. Is that inappropriate?

Amid all this, truth is contaminated, perhaps fatally.

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