China sees light but the world lives in darkness

COMMENT | A new dawn has descended on China when it told the world that there are no more new cases of the coronavirus disease in Wuhan, where it all started three months ago. The magic figure of zero has been reached.

When Wuhan was locked down, this city of 11 million people was completely cut off from the rest of the world. An iron curtain had descended on this capital of the Hubei province, behind which the citizens were holed up in their homes as the authorities got down to tackling Covid-19.

Now, China claims it has contained the contagion and Wuhan would be unlocked on April 8, setting its citizens free and giving the world renewed hope that the virus can be stopped in its track.

China may have cause to celebrate its victory over the unseen enemy, but for the rest of the world, still ravaged by the disease, there is nothing but profound despair. They cannot share China's joy because Beijing appears reluctant to share vital information with the international community.

Being a member of the World Health Organisation, China should report to WHO the steps it took to fight Covid-19 so that other nations can follow the same route.

But the only information that comes out from this vast country is the daily count of new cases and the mortality rate. When did the patients fall sick? We do not know. More than 3,200 died from this disease but the age profile was not given. How many of the victims were senior citizens? We do not know.

Thousands were tested, but were all the results in? We do not know. What about people who carry the virus but do not develop symptoms? Are they not spreading the virus? We do not know.

China sent more than 6,000 frontline medical personnel to Wuhan, and more than 1,700 of them were infected. But there were no more details about the healthcare workers. The lack of information would hamper plans to deal with the transmission of the disease in hospitals.

Many of the workers have left Wuhan after the coronavirus epidemic has waned, but we do not know whether they have been quarantined or how did China deal with this "demobilised" workforce.

China might have done extensive research and discovered a powerful vaccine, or a combination of modern and traditional medicine, and might have successfully tested it out on the coronavirus patients. But we do not know.

If China says the lockdown had effectively stopped the disease, then it follows that countries under lockdown would show similar results. If it doesn't, then China must have employed other methods to battle the contagion. But we do not know.

The only way the world can learn from China is for Beijing to send a detailed report to WHO on the measures it took to beat the unseen adversary. Or China can send a high-ranking government representative to speak from the world podium about its achievement.

The communist giant can go one step further by inviting foreign correspondents to interview medical personnel and residents in Wuhan. They should be given the freedom to move around the city and report what they see and hear.

In the absence of all this vital information, the world can only greet China's narrative with scepticism. China can resume normal business or send out medical kits and personnel to help out virus-stricken countries, but it would hardly inspire confidence.

If something is wrong with the narrative, the world can only wait for someone, somewhere in Wuhan to blow the whistle on the communist masters. Only then would the world know whether China had undercounted cases or took harsh, cruel methods against its citizens to enforce the lockdown.

Be transparent, China. Be honest. Break down the great wall of silence. All the world wants to know is this: “Tell us everything you know."

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PHLIP RODRIGUES is a retired journalist.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.