[Asia Economy Reporter Yuri Kim] The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on the 12th (local time) that China refused to provide raw data and customized information on early outbreak cases to the World Health Organization (WHO) investigation team trying to trace the origin of COVID-19.
According to the report, Chinese authorities rejected the WHO experts' request to provide detailed data on 174 confirmed cases identified in Wuhan in December 2019, the early stage of the COVID-19 outbreak. Instead, Chinese government officials and scientists only provided their own analysis and extensive summaries of those cases, the WHO investigators said.
However, the investigation team stated that they were unable to access the raw data needed for a retrospective study, an epidemiological method that examines past cases. This type of study allows for independent analysis of how early and how widely COVID-19 spread in China.
WSJ evaluated that China's reluctance to provide such data heightens international concerns about China's lack of transparency in the process of tracing the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic.
WSJ also reported on the 10th, citing the WHO investigation team, that 92 people were hospitalized in the Hubei Province area in October 2019, two months before the officially recognized first outbreak, with symptoms similar to COVID-19.
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