On April 4, the Chinese government lifted the lockdown restrictions in the city of Wuhan, which is the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak. After declaring the city as coronavirus free since there were no new cases for the past few days, a disturbing video has made its way online and it suggests that officials are trying to cover up the real number of coronavirus deaths.
Dead bodies moved out of hospitals at midnight
While the lift on the restrictions has been a relief for thousands of people in the city, the video showing a dead body being moved out of a hospital in Wuhan at night has led a lot of people to believe that the officials are trying to cover up the actual number of infections and deaths due to COVID-19. The city may not even have a "zero" number of local infections as reported by the media.
Jennifer Zeng, a human rights activist, shared the chilling video on April 7 on her Twitter account. The video shows a hospital staff moving a body bag out of a hospital late at night, she claims that the video was taken in Wuhan. Zeng stated in her post "Somewhere in Wuhan, people moving body secretly as "zero new cases" has become a political task, and communities dare not break the "zero new cases" record, so they arrange to have the body moved at midnight."
Somewhere in #Wuhan, people moving body secretly as "zero new cases" has become a political task, and communities dare not break the "zero new cases" record, so they arrange to have the body moved at midnight. #CCPVirus #COVID2019 #Coronavirus #CoronavirusPandemic pic.twitter.com/L2doNCTT1A — Jennifer Zeng 曾錚 (@jenniferatntd) April 7, 2020
'Zero deaths' in China reported
The video immediately went viral, and reports showed that it was taken on a day when the Chinese health officials declared zero deaths across the country for the first time since the outbreak in January. Based on the video, people are still dying due to COVID-19 but the government, led by President Xi Jinping, is not reporting the correct figure.
There is a possibility that the body in question may have died from a different disease and not due to the COVID-19. But if that is really the case, people are asking why does the staff have to wear a protective gear similar to what medical staff would wear on COVID-19 positive patients and why does the body have to be moved late at night.
Netizens across all social media platforms have shared and responded to Zeng's post with anger and disbelief over the Chinese government's alleged cover-up of the coronavirus situation in the country, and they expressed their frustration over the attempt to downplay the severity of the outbreak.
One user stated that the public should not believe the headlines written by major news corporations that claim China has zero deaths and that their situation is a glimmer of hope. Another user stated that China is trying to conceal the truth in desperation.
China's numbers
On April 1, the U.S has accused China of trying to cover up the real numbers of coronavirus cases in its country by under-reporting the total number of infected patients and the total number of deaths. This is after three U.S officials from the U.S intelligence community submitted a classified report of the situation to the White House.
On April 2, China denied the claims that their numbers are fake. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying stated that China's response to the virus is open and transparent ever since it started in December of 2019. Hua added that some U.S officials wanted to shift the blame and that China does not want to fall into an argument with the U.S government.
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