Today, January 23, marks the 1-year anniversary of Wuhan’s quarantine closure due to the coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak. One year later, authorities launched a propaganda offensive to preserve the reputation of the communist regime as it was tarnished in the first weeks of dealing with the outbreak, according to an AFP report from Wuhan Exhibition Park recently.
A top priority
Although official figures show that the Chinese authorities have kept the number of infections to 90,000 and the number of deaths to less than 4,635, the virus has spread globally, causing more than 2 million deaths.
The imperative of Communist propaganda is therefore to pay tribute to the first rescuers in early 2020, while erasing the less honorable aspects, such as erasing the police interrogation of the doctors who raised the alarm in late 2019.
In this huge exhibition park, visitors can immerse themselves in the atmosphere of the 11 million people on lockdown in Wuhan. This city by the Yangtze River was almost completely unaware of the Epidemic that had descended on it until it was sealed. Then, suddenly, it was sealed off, becoming the first city in the world to be sealed off. And it was sealed for 76 days.
As Life almost returned to normal on the streets of Wuhan, dozens of models in protective clothing greeted visitors to the exhibition under a sea of red banners.
Some of the iron beds were reminiscent of the field hospitals built within days of each other, taking in thousands of patients and unloading the burdens of other hospitals overwhelmed by epidemics.
Xi Jinping leads the way
A giant portrait of President Xi Jinping dominates the exhibit garden. Smaller panels are reserved for those health care workers who died from the virus, including Dr. Li Wenliang. He was charged by police with spreading “rumors” for alerting friends and Family to the emergence of a new virus. His death in February sparked a wave of outrage on social networks. However, none of these things were mentioned in his photo caption.
Wang Chen (pronounced Wang Chen), a 20-year-old tourist, told AFP, “Wuhan has experienced a tough year in 2020.” But China has “handled the crisis very well.”
Recently, northern China has seen a limited number of additional cases of the infection, with more than 100 infections per day. That’s the highest number officially announced since last July.
Outbreak could have been contained
To figure out the source of the virus, a team of WHO (World Health Organization) experts arrived in Wuhan last week. After two weeks of quarantine, experts should be able to begin their investigation by the end of January.
A market in Wuhan that used to sell live animals is suspected to be the trigger of the outbreak. The huge market, which witnessed the outbreak, is now closed off by a blue fence.
The young Mr. Wang Chen expressed hope that international experts would “establish Wuhan’s innocence.” However, a WHO-mandated committee of experts said this week that “it would have been possible to act more quickly” to contain the outbreak based on initial signs of an outbreak in China.
Documentary avoids death and panic
Asked about the issue Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying defended Beijing‘s health management. She stressed that “as the first country to alert the world to the outbreak, China made a swift and decisive decision, even though its knowledge of the virus was only incomplete.”
On the eve of the anniversary of Wuhan’s closure, a documentary film arrived in Chinese cinemas on Friday. The film, titled “Days and Nights in Wuhan,” presents the outbreak in Wuhan, but its focus avoids the deaths and the panic that has gripped the city. “Instead, it tries to recreate the spirit (of fighting the epidemic) through the power of love,” the film says in a post on its official social networking page.
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