Relatives of Wuhan’s coronavirus dead yesterday said that Chinese authorities have deleted their social media group and are pressuring them to keep quiet while a WHO team is in the city to investigate the COVID-19 pandemic’s origins.
Scores of relatives have banded together online in a shared quest for accountability from Wuhan officials, who they blame for mishandling the outbreak that tore through the city a year ago.
The effort has been thwarted by official obstruction, monitoring of social media groups and intimidation, the next-of-kin say.
However, pressure has escalated in the past few days, apparently to muzzle any criticism and avoid embarrassment during the highly sensitive WHO investigation.
A WeChat group used by 80 to 100 family members over the past year was suddenly deleted without explanation about 10 days ago, said Zhang Hai (張海), a group member and a vocal critic of the outbreak’s handling.
“This shows that [Chinese authorities] are very nervous. They are afraid that these families will get in touch with the WHO experts,” said Zhang, 51, whose father died early in the outbreak of suspected COVID-19.
The WHO experts arrived in Wuhan on Jan. 14, and are due to emerge from a 14-day quarantine today and begin their probe into the virus’ origins under tight security.
“When the WHO arrived in Wuhan, [authorities] forcibly demolished [the group]. As a result we have lost contact with many members,” Zhang said.
Other next-of-kin confirmed the group’s deletion.
WeChat is operated by Chinese digital giant Tencent Holdings Ltd (騰訊). Popular platforms routinely censor content deemed objectionable by the government.
Relatives accuse the Hubei Province and Wuhan governments of allowing COVID-19 to explode out of control by trying to conceal the outbreak when it first emerged in the city in Dec. 2019, then failing to alert the public and bungling the response.
According to official Chinese figures, it killed nearly 3,900 in Wuhan, accounting for the vast majority of the 4,636 dead that China has reported.
Many next-of-kin distrust those numbers, saying that the scarcity of testing in the outbreak’s chaotic early days meant many likely died without being confirmed as having the disease.
Another family member, a retiree who says her adult daughter died of the virus in January last year, said that she was last week summoned by authorities and warned not to “speak to media or be used by others.”
Authorities came to her door on Tuesday “and sang the same old tune and gave me 5,000 yuan (US$773) in a ‘condolence payment,’” she said, requesting anonymity.
Zhang called on the WHO experts to “bravely” meet with next-of-kin, saying the investigators are likely to be misled or obstructed by Chinese authorities.
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