Chinese authorities hid the fact that medical staff in coronavirus-hit city were infected

Even as China experiences a second wave of Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) infections, reports are coming in that authorities are still suppressing information about the pandemic. A new report states that Chinese authorities hid information about medical staff who were diagnosed with COVID-19 in the northeastern province of Jilin from the public.

In the provincial capital of Jilin City, which is also the current epicenter of the outbreak, authorities made no mention of any medical staff who have been infected with COVID-19. However, according to internal government documents obtained by The Epoch Times, at least two hospitals in the city have infected employees.

Chinese authorities’ reporting of coronavirus data has been opaque at best; no cumulative infection figures have been released, with local governments only reporting new infections daily. In addition, asymptomatic carriers are counted separately from “confirmed diagnoses,” while little to no background information is given about diagnosed cases. This is on top of officials simply underreporting cases. (Related: RIGGED: China changes the definition of “infected” to ignore coronavirus patients who test positive but show no symptoms.)

Coronavirus cases reported from hospital workers

One of the hospital staff identified to have caught the virus is a 22-year old woman named Hu, who works as a surgical nurse at the Beihua University Affiliated Hospital in Jilin. According to internal documents, the Jilin Center for Disease Control (Jilin CDC) reported to the national authorities on May 15 that Hu had been diagnosed with the disease earlier that day.

In previous announcements made by the Jilin provincial health commission, authorities had mentioned a case that matched Hu’s profile. However, no background information on the case was provided.

In the internal Jilin CDC report, Hu was identified as the daughter of another COVID-19 patient, a woman identified as Gao. The 45-year old Gao had been previously identified as a close contact of yet another COVID-19 patient on May 12, before herself being diagnosed with the disease on May 14.

After her mother had been identified as a close contact, Hu herself took a nucleic acid test at her workplace, but her results came out as negative for the coronavirus. It was only after her mother had been diagnosed with COVID-19 did Hu take another test, which came back positive this time.

Hu was initially isolated at the Chuanying No. 2 Hospital at Jilin’s Chuanying District, before eventually being transferred to the Jilin City Infectious Disease Hospital.

The same internal documents also listed close contacts of Hu. These included 55 medical staff at her workplace, 34 patients and their relatives who Hu came into contact with, as well as her grandmother and aunt.

According to The Epoch Times’s sources, the Beihua University Affiliated Hospital, which is not designated to treat COVID-19 patients, has stopped taking in new patients since May 15.

In addition, there are at least two more cases of hospital workers testing positive for the coronavirus in the region. Both cases are from the Shulan People’s Hospital.

One of these cases was Li, a 49-year old cashier at the hospital who was traced as a close contact of a diagnosed patient. Li and her husband were diagnosed with COVID-19 on May 9.

The second unreported case is that of Xiao, a doctor at the cardiopulmonary department at Shulan People’s Hospital. Xiao had previously treated a patient who turned out to be positive for the coronavirus resulting in Xiao having to be isolated.

Under-reporting continues throughout China

Despite the internal documents listing at least three cases among hospital workers, neither the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China nor Jilin’s local health commission has disclosed the fact that medical staff have caught the coronavirus.

The failure to mention these cases, combined with previous instances of underreporting, casts doubt on China’s claims of having successfully fought off the virus’s second wave.

China reported that it saw no new cases of the coronavirus at the end of Friday. This would make it the first time that the country did not see a daily increase in the number of coronavirus cases, since authorities started reporting data in January.

Even as authorities made this statement, reports were coming in, which showed that cases in northeastern China were underreported. This is further complicated by other sources that revealed that health authorities were also downplaying the actual number of cases in other cities, even those outside northeastern China.

Sources include:

TheEpochTimes.com 1

The EpochTimes.com 2

DailyMail.co.uk