At the beginning of 2020, the same day that a fearsome new disease was officially named after Covid-19, a team of scientists from the US and China released data showing how fast the virus was spreading, and who was dying. The study was cited in health warnings around the world and appeared to be a model for international collaboration at a time of crisis.
However, within a few days, the researchers retracted the study, which was replaced by a message telling scientists not to cite it. Some observers took notice of the peculiar measure, but the episode dissipated amid the frenzy of the pandemic.
What is clear now is that the study was withdrawn on orders from Chinese health officials amid a crackdown on science. That effort obfuscated the dates of the first Covid cases, such as those reported in the study.
The fact that the Chinese government silenced scientists, hampered research, and censored online discussions about the pandemic is well documented. But his control over information goes beyond what many researchers know. He has targeted international publications and databases, laying the foundations for shared knowledge, a New York Times investigation has found.
This censorship has not been universally successful: the original February 2020 article, for example, can still be found online with some searching. But the campaign deprived policymakers of crucial information about the virus when the world needed it most.to. It sparked mistrust in Europe and the US, as health officials cited research from China that was later retracted.
Such censorship recently spilled out into the public eye, when an international group of scientists discovered genetic sequence data that Chinese researchers had collected from a market in Wuhan in January 2020 but retained for three years. The sequences showed that raccoon dogs, animals similar to foxes, had deposited genetic signatures in the same place where traces of genetic material from the virus remained, a finding consistent with a scenario in which the virus spread from animals sold illegally in markets to humans.
Some of the censorship changed the timing of the first infections as the Chinese government faced criticism over whether or not it responded to the outbreak quickly enough.
“I think there is a significant political agenda impacting the science,” said Edward Holmes, a biologist at the University of Sydney who was part of the group that analyzed the sequences containing raccoon dog DNA. Shortly after the group alerted Chinese researchers to their findings, the genetic sequences temporarily disappeared from a global database.
On February 6, 2020, when avoiding a pandemic still seemed possible, the Chinese internet was aroused by the death of Li Wenliang, a doctor in Wuhan who had been punished for warning about the outbreak before he himself fell ill. The population sensed that the authorities had withheld information that could save lives. Across China, they wondered: How many people had been infected with the virus in December? Who knew? Why hadn’t more been done? Around that time, researchers confirmed that the virus had been spreading for weeks, a fact that Chinese officials had initially dismissed. The government reacted by tightening online censorship and taking control of investigations.
Soon, Chinese researchers asked publications to retract their work. An analysis of more than a dozen retracted articles from China shows a pattern of correcting or suppressing investigations into early cases, conditions for medical workers and how far the virus had spread — topics that could make Beijing look bad. .
As the virus spread, China formalized its controls. A task force was put in charge of all coronavirus research.
“China emerged from the pandemic as one of the early winners,” said Yanzhong Huang, a global health expert at Seton Hall University in New Jersey. “They started presenting a new narrative about the outbreak.”
China’s control over science continues. In April, government scientists said it was time to look for the origins of the virus outside of China.
It was an allusion to the widely denied claim that Covid started elsewhere.
Vivian Wang contributed reporting to this article.
By: MARA HVISTENDAHL and BENJAMIN MUELLER
BBC-NEWS-SRC: http://www.nytsyn.com/subscribed/stories/6693973, IMPORTING DATE: 2023-05-02 22:50:09
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