China stockpiled PPE months before Covid outbreak, claim former US government officials
Fresh evidence based on data analysis by two former US government officials indicates that China started stockpiling PPE kits several months before the virus struck in December 2019.
By ET Spotlight Special |
Agencies
Three years after the pandemic outbreak, COVID-19 scientists and health department officials across the world are not clear about the origin of the disease. The issue continues to be controversial, with many blaming a laboratory in Wuhan, China, for leaking the disease to humans. Now two former US government officials have released supporting evidence of China's hoarding of a huge stock of PPE kits.
Why did China stockpile PPE kits before November 2019?
Dr Tom McGinn, a former Health Advisor with the US Department of Homeland Security, and Colonel John Hoffman, a Research Fellow with the Food Protection and Defence Institute, have shown through an analysis of import data into the US an unnatural variation in the supplies of PPE kits. Many hospitals, as a result, were left stocked out by September 19. It was also evident that China, a leading producer and exporter of PPE kits, was buying them from European sources. Will the new evidence provide a link to the controversy? Only time will tell.According to a report by PTI, the aid received from other countries has been allocated to different states, keeping in mind equitable distribution and the load on tertiary healthcare facilities, to help deal with the rising number of COVID-19 cases, the Union Health Ministry said on May 4. The ministry asserted that the Union Government did not waste time in effective allocation and distribution of pandemic relief material.
FAQs
- What does the Wuhan Laboratory do?
The Wuhan Institute of Virology, referred to commonly as the Wuhan Laboratory, is a specialised research centre under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The centre, located in the Jiangxia district, Wuhan, conducts primary research on the SARS coronavirus. - Does the Wuhan Institute share information with other research organisations worldwide?
The Wuhan Institute has information-sharing arrangements with several laboratories, like the Galveston National Laboratory in the US, the Centre International de Recherché en Infectiologie in France and the National Microbiological Laboratory in Canada.
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