Citizen journalist detained over Wuhan reporting 'restrained and fed by tube'
Zhang Zhan, a citizen journalist and 37-year-old former lawyer, has been on a hunger strike at a detention facility near Shanghai. Zhang was arrested in May and accused of “picking quarrels and stirring up trouble”, an accusation frequently used against critics and activists inside China, after reporting on social media and streaming accounts.
Zhang has been detained for more than six months after reporting on the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak. Last month she was formally indicted on charges of spreading false information.
Zhang was previously detained on similar accusations by Chinese authorities in 2018, and again in 2019 for voicing support for Hong Kong activists. She denies the charge of falsifying information, telling her lawyer that all the information was gathered firsthand through interviews with Wuhan residents.
Source: The Guardian #Dec10
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/10/citizen-journalist-detained-over-wuhan-reporting-restrained-and-fed-by-tube?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
#Wuhan #Covid19 #CitizenJournalist #China #ChinaDetention
Zhang Zhan, a citizen journalist and 37-year-old former lawyer, has been on a hunger strike at a detention facility near Shanghai. Zhang was arrested in May and accused of “picking quarrels and stirring up trouble”, an accusation frequently used against critics and activists inside China, after reporting on social media and streaming accounts.
Zhang has been detained for more than six months after reporting on the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak. Last month she was formally indicted on charges of spreading false information.
Zhang was previously detained on similar accusations by Chinese authorities in 2018, and again in 2019 for voicing support for Hong Kong activists. She denies the charge of falsifying information, telling her lawyer that all the information was gathered firsthand through interviews with Wuhan residents.
Source: The Guardian #Dec10
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/10/citizen-journalist-detained-over-wuhan-reporting-restrained-and-fed-by-tube?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
#Wuhan #Covid19 #CitizenJournalist #China #ChinaDetention
the Guardian
Citizen journalist detained over Wuhan reporting 'restrained and fed by tube'
Former lawyer Zhang Zhan was on hunger strike after her arrest for ‘picking quarrels’
Wuhan lockdown diarist Fang Fang on writing to preserve the truth
Chinese novelist Fang Fang, the pen name of Wang Fang, was in a funk when she decided to become the unofficial chronicler of life under coronavirus-included lockdown in Wuhan, where the virus was first discovered in December 2019.
Fang Fang criticised local officials’ early mistakes and cover-ups, aspects of the response the Chinese Communist party has since airbrushed out of the official narrative. Her descriptions of chaotic events also elicited sympathy for the people of her city, in a tacit rebuke of rightwing commentators in the US who labelled the disease the “Wuhan virus”. Her posts were translated into English and collected as a book, Wuhan Diary. The April announcement of its publication sparked online abuse as leftists in China accused her of “handing a knife to foreigners” and spreading “distorted values”.
She has stuck to her criticisms of the Wuhan authorities, even as the party intensified efforts to spin its response as an unblemished success.
Source: FT #Dec04
https://www.ft.com/content/a8995095-7379-4e01-8070-2a54d4b47180?fbclid=IwAR0z3EvrsqivaKNPfrRvf9rrrGfyudlb_KhCjNCQrryAoI0pziYWVziYd_M
#Wuhan #China #Covid19 #Coronavirus #WuhanPneumonia #FangFangDiary
Chinese novelist Fang Fang, the pen name of Wang Fang, was in a funk when she decided to become the unofficial chronicler of life under coronavirus-included lockdown in Wuhan, where the virus was first discovered in December 2019.
Fang Fang criticised local officials’ early mistakes and cover-ups, aspects of the response the Chinese Communist party has since airbrushed out of the official narrative. Her descriptions of chaotic events also elicited sympathy for the people of her city, in a tacit rebuke of rightwing commentators in the US who labelled the disease the “Wuhan virus”. Her posts were translated into English and collected as a book, Wuhan Diary. The April announcement of its publication sparked online abuse as leftists in China accused her of “handing a knife to foreigners” and spreading “distorted values”.
She has stuck to her criticisms of the Wuhan authorities, even as the party intensified efforts to spin its response as an unblemished success.
Source: FT #Dec04
https://www.ft.com/content/a8995095-7379-4e01-8070-2a54d4b47180?fbclid=IwAR0z3EvrsqivaKNPfrRvf9rrrGfyudlb_KhCjNCQrryAoI0pziYWVziYd_M
#Wuhan #China #Covid19 #Coronavirus #WuhanPneumonia #FangFangDiary
Ft
Wuhan lockdown diarist Fang Fang on writing to preserve the truth
Censors tried to erase the novelist’s unvarnished accounts of the Covid-19 pandemic’s frightening early days
Origin story: what do we know now about where coronavirus came from?
Maria van Kerkhove, the World Health Organization (WHO) virologist said that something happened at Christmas time in 2019.
On the evening of 30 December 2019, the Wuhan municipal health commission had issued an “urgent notice” online, warning all medical facilities to be on the alert and put into effect their emergency plans. It pointed the finger of suspicion for the outbreak at the Huanan [meaning South China] seafood market. Of a sample of 41 early confirmed cases, 70% were stall owners, employees or regular customers of the Huanan market, which sold seafood but also live animals, often illegally captured in the wild and slaughtered in front of the customer.
The market was closed by the Chinese authorities on 1 January 2020 and comprehensively cleaned and disinfected, which was helpful to hygiene but destroyed clues
It’s important for the entire world to know, so the WHO has been investigating since the outbreak began.
The Canadian doctor and epidemiologist appointed by WHO leading the investigation Bruce Aylward said, “from the moment you landed in China, you knew you were dealing with something very serious that the rest of the world wasn’t getting. You got off the plane and you were in an empty Beijing airport. It was absolutely stunning, your footsteps would echo through the great cavernous halls of Beijing airport, which is teeming day and night normally.”
Source: The Guardian #Dec12
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/12/where-did-coronavirus-come-from-covid?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
#Covid19 #Wuhan #WHO #China #Covid19Origin
Maria van Kerkhove, the World Health Organization (WHO) virologist said that something happened at Christmas time in 2019.
On the evening of 30 December 2019, the Wuhan municipal health commission had issued an “urgent notice” online, warning all medical facilities to be on the alert and put into effect their emergency plans. It pointed the finger of suspicion for the outbreak at the Huanan [meaning South China] seafood market. Of a sample of 41 early confirmed cases, 70% were stall owners, employees or regular customers of the Huanan market, which sold seafood but also live animals, often illegally captured in the wild and slaughtered in front of the customer.
The market was closed by the Chinese authorities on 1 January 2020 and comprehensively cleaned and disinfected, which was helpful to hygiene but destroyed clues
It’s important for the entire world to know, so the WHO has been investigating since the outbreak began.
The Canadian doctor and epidemiologist appointed by WHO leading the investigation Bruce Aylward said, “from the moment you landed in China, you knew you were dealing with something very serious that the rest of the world wasn’t getting. You got off the plane and you were in an empty Beijing airport. It was absolutely stunning, your footsteps would echo through the great cavernous halls of Beijing airport, which is teeming day and night normally.”
Source: The Guardian #Dec12
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/12/where-did-coronavirus-come-from-covid?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
#Covid19 #Wuhan #WHO #China #Covid19Origin
the Guardian
Origin story: what do we know now about where coronavirus came from?
When Chinese scientists alerted colleagues to a new virus last December, suspicion fell on a Wuhan market. What have health officials learned since then?
WHO Appointed Independent Investigations criticizing China for lack of Aggressive Reactions, and the WHO for Slow Reactions
The People's Vaccine Alliance, which was appointed by WHO to investigate the global COVID-19 pandemic, published an interim report. It criticized that China could be more proactive in public health precautions to stop the epidemic in January 2020 while the WHO took too long to announce COVID-19 as an international hygiene emergency.
COVID-19 was firstly found in Wuhan City, China in late 2019 and then spread to outside China which caused over 2 million deaths with a countless economic loss so far.
Alliance criticized that the regional and national hygiene department “obviously” could take more active public health precautions in January 2020. WHO convened an emergency committee meeting until the 22nd. They even were unable to immediately agree to announce the COVID-19 outbreak as a public health emergency for international concern. The verdict confirmed the agreement a week later, which was one month from the first announced case.
The report clearly expressed, “not sure why the committee had the meeting till the third week of January and why they cannot have a consensus at the first meeting”.
#WHO #investigation #pandemic #Wuhan #China #COVID19 #pandemic #PublicHealth #InterimReport #PeoplesVaccineAlliance
Source from: The Stand News #Jan19
https://bit.ly/2Y5EmPi
The People's Vaccine Alliance, which was appointed by WHO to investigate the global COVID-19 pandemic, published an interim report. It criticized that China could be more proactive in public health precautions to stop the epidemic in January 2020 while the WHO took too long to announce COVID-19 as an international hygiene emergency.
COVID-19 was firstly found in Wuhan City, China in late 2019 and then spread to outside China which caused over 2 million deaths with a countless economic loss so far.
Alliance criticized that the regional and national hygiene department “obviously” could take more active public health precautions in January 2020. WHO convened an emergency committee meeting until the 22nd. They even were unable to immediately agree to announce the COVID-19 outbreak as a public health emergency for international concern. The verdict confirmed the agreement a week later, which was one month from the first announced case.
The report clearly expressed, “not sure why the committee had the meeting till the third week of January and why they cannot have a consensus at the first meeting”.
#WHO #investigation #pandemic #Wuhan #China #COVID19 #pandemic #PublicHealth #InterimReport #PeoplesVaccineAlliance
Source from: The Stand News #Jan19
https://bit.ly/2Y5EmPi
立場新聞 Stand News
【武肺調查】世衛委託獨立調查 批評中國疫情初期無積極應對、世衛反應慢 | 立場報道 | 立場新聞
早前受世衛委託，調查全球應對武漢肺炎 (COVID-19) 大流行情況的人民疫苗聯盟周一發表中期報告，批評中國...
WHO Experts Visit Market in Wuhan to Trace the Pandemic’s Origin, Reporters Shut Out by Chinese Authorities
As the Wuhan virus pandemic enters its second year, a group of specialists sent by the WHO arrived in Wuhan on 14 January to investigate the pandemic’s origin. During their visit to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market on 31 January, local authorities cordoned off the market with water-filled barriers with officers standing in front of reporters to keep them out.
Footage by Reuters show that a number of officers stopped reporters and other people from following vehicles that carried the WHO specialists into the market and set up barriers on the perimeter. The specialists, wearing visitor badges, did not respond to questions from reporters when they got out of their cars. They also visited the Jinyintan Hospital, where early Wuhan disease patients had been treated, and exhibitions showcasing efforts to combat the pandemic that day.
Source: Stand News #Jan31
#China #WHO #Wuhan #WuhanVirus #WuhanPneumonia #COVID19 #Pandemic
https://bit.ly/3oR2D6V
As the Wuhan virus pandemic enters its second year, a group of specialists sent by the WHO arrived in Wuhan on 14 January to investigate the pandemic’s origin. During their visit to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market on 31 January, local authorities cordoned off the market with water-filled barriers with officers standing in front of reporters to keep them out.
Footage by Reuters show that a number of officers stopped reporters and other people from following vehicles that carried the WHO specialists into the market and set up barriers on the perimeter. The specialists, wearing visitor badges, did not respond to questions from reporters when they got out of their cars. They also visited the Jinyintan Hospital, where early Wuhan disease patients had been treated, and exhibitions showcasing efforts to combat the pandemic that day.
Source: Stand News #Jan31
#China #WHO #Wuhan #WuhanVirus #WuhanPneumonia #COVID19 #Pandemic
https://bit.ly/3oR2D6V
One year on, Wuhan market at epicentre of virus outbreak remains barricaded and empty
For over six years, 38-year-old Wuhan restaurant owner Lai Yun started most days the same way - with a trip to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, just ten minutes walk from his house.
“I’d send the kids to school, have breakfast and then walk over to the market. It was very convenient,” he said.
That changed on Dec. 31, 2019, after four cases of a mystery pneumonia were linked to the market and it was shuttered overnight. By the end of the month, the city had begun a gruelling 76-day lockdown that came with just hours notice and barred people from leaving their homes.
Source: Reuters #Dec11
https://reut.rs/2W2miVt
#Wuhan #Virus #Outbreak #Lockdown
For over six years, 38-year-old Wuhan restaurant owner Lai Yun started most days the same way - with a trip to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, just ten minutes walk from his house.
“I’d send the kids to school, have breakfast and then walk over to the market. It was very convenient,” he said.
That changed on Dec. 31, 2019, after four cases of a mystery pneumonia were linked to the market and it was shuttered overnight. By the end of the month, the city had begun a gruelling 76-day lockdown that came with just hours notice and barred people from leaving their homes.
Source: Reuters #Dec11
https://reut.rs/2W2miVt
#Wuhan #Virus #Outbreak #Lockdown
Covid: Wuhan lab leak is ‘feasible’, say British spies
British intelligence agencies now believe it is “feasible” that the global pandemic began with a coronavirus leak from a Chinese research laboratory.
In a significant sharpening of tension with Beijing, they are investigating a possible leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which Beijing angrily insists was not the source of the virus that has caused more than 3.5 million deaths and is still raging globally.
Source: The Sunday Times #May30
https://apple.news/AGSimleKUQqWyV0TyILd4uQ
#Covid19 #Wuhan #Lab #British
British intelligence agencies now believe it is “feasible” that the global pandemic began with a coronavirus leak from a Chinese research laboratory.
In a significant sharpening of tension with Beijing, they are investigating a possible leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which Beijing angrily insists was not the source of the virus that has caused more than 3.5 million deaths and is still raging globally.
Source: The Sunday Times #May30
https://apple.news/AGSimleKUQqWyV0TyILd4uQ
#Covid19 #Wuhan #Lab #British
Timeline: How the Wuhan lab-leak theory suddenly became credible
The source of the coronavirus that has left more than 3 million people dead around the world remains a mystery. But in recent months the idea that it emerged from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) — once dismissed as a ridiculous conspiracy theory — has gained new credence.
How and why did this happen? For one, efforts to discover a natural source of the virus have failed. Second, early efforts to spotlight a lab leak often got mixed up with speculation that the virus was deliberately created as a bioweapon. That made it easier for many scientists to dismiss the lab scenario as tin-hat nonsense. But a lack of transparency by China and renewed attention to the activities of the Wuhan lab have led some scientists to say they were too quick to discount a possible link at first.
Source: The Washington Post #May25
https://wapo.st/3zHp7NZ
#China #Wuhan #Covid19
The source of the coronavirus that has left more than 3 million people dead around the world remains a mystery. But in recent months the idea that it emerged from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) — once dismissed as a ridiculous conspiracy theory — has gained new credence.
How and why did this happen? For one, efforts to discover a natural source of the virus have failed. Second, early efforts to spotlight a lab leak often got mixed up with speculation that the virus was deliberately created as a bioweapon. That made it easier for many scientists to dismiss the lab scenario as tin-hat nonsense. But a lack of transparency by China and renewed attention to the activities of the Wuhan lab have led some scientists to say they were too quick to discount a possible link at first.
Source: The Washington Post #May25
https://wapo.st/3zHp7NZ
#China #Wuhan #Covid19
Why are calls growing to investigate the Wuhan lab leak theory?
There is growing public support among the world’s scientific community for fully exploring the possibility the coronavirus may have emerged from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, leading to the global outbreak that has killed more than 3.7 million people worldwide.
The lab leak theory was largely sidelined in public scientific debate in the early days of the outbreak, after the first cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, were confirmed in the central Chinese city in late 2019.
Source: Aljazeera #Jun06
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/6/6/calls-to-consider-wuhan-lab-leak-theory-have-grown-why-now
#China #Covid19 #Wuhan #Lab
There is growing public support among the world’s scientific community for fully exploring the possibility the coronavirus may have emerged from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, leading to the global outbreak that has killed more than 3.7 million people worldwide.
The lab leak theory was largely sidelined in public scientific debate in the early days of the outbreak, after the first cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, were confirmed in the central Chinese city in late 2019.
Source: Aljazeera #Jun06
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/6/6/calls-to-consider-wuhan-lab-leak-theory-have-grown-why-now
#China #Covid19 #Wuhan #Lab
If Uyghur Lives Matter, the Olympics Should Move
The following article was written by Rayhan Asat, whose brother Ekpar Asat has been detained by Chinese authotities at a prison camp:
//I cheered China on from Wuhan in 2008, when Beijing hosted the Summer Olympics. Thirteen years later, I’m advocating for the 2022 Winter Olympics to be relocated from Beijing, and for a diplomatic boycott if that option fails.
My position shifted drastically because China, a country I hoped would move in a more democratic direction, instead has reached new levels of cruelty.
The government has subjected my brother, Ekpar Asat, to the torture of indefinite solitary confinement, far from home, in the notorious Aksu prison camps...//
Source: WSJ #Jun16
Read more:
https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/if-uyghur-lives-matter-the-olympics-should-move-11623881691
#Uyghur #Lives #Olympics #China #Wuhan #Beijing
The following article was written by Rayhan Asat, whose brother Ekpar Asat has been detained by Chinese authotities at a prison camp:
//I cheered China on from Wuhan in 2008, when Beijing hosted the Summer Olympics. Thirteen years later, I’m advocating for the 2022 Winter Olympics to be relocated from Beijing, and for a diplomatic boycott if that option fails.
My position shifted drastically because China, a country I hoped would move in a more democratic direction, instead has reached new levels of cruelty.
The government has subjected my brother, Ekpar Asat, to the torture of indefinite solitary confinement, far from home, in the notorious Aksu prison camps...//
Source: WSJ #Jun16
Read more:
https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/if-uyghur-lives-matter-the-olympics-should-move-11623881691
#Uyghur #Lives #Olympics #China #Wuhan #Beijing