CHICOMS REVISE VIRUS STATS

The News Agency, Reuters, said today that Zhao Lijian, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, is asserting that there has never been a cover-up of the coronavirus outbreak in China, and that the (Chinese) government does not allow any coverups.

Reuters:

"...Zhao told reporters at a daily briefing that the revision of the case toll in Wuhan, where the epidemic first emerged in late 2019, was the result of a statistical verification to ensure accuracy and that revision is a common international practice..."

This, according to Reuters, was a follow up statement after which Wuhan's health authority, earlier on Thursday revised up its cumulative death toll by 50% to 3,869 to rectify what it called incorrect reporting, delays and omissions.  (Full Reuters report HERE)

The statement from the Chinese also comes a day after Fox News' Bret Baier published an "exclusive" report in which he premised that:

"...There is increasing confidence that the COVID-19 outbreak likely originated in a Wuhan laboratory, though not as a bioweapon but as part of China's attempt to demonstrate that its efforts to identify and combat viruses are equal to or greater than the capabilities of the United States..."

Baier said multiple sources interviewed by Fox News had revealed actions by the Chinese Communist government which pointed to what may be "...the costliest government cover-up of all time..."

The Fox News assertions include the following:

• "...The sources believe the initial transmission of the virus – a naturally occurring strain that was being studied there – was bat-to-human and that "patient zero" worked at the laboratory, then went into the population in Wuhan..."
• "...The 'increasing confidence' comes from classified and open-source documents and evidence, the sources said. Fox News has requested to see the evidence directly. Sources emphasized -- as is often the case with intelligence -- that it’s not definitive and should not be characterized as such. Some inside the administration and the intelligence and epidemiological communities are more skeptical, and the investigation is continuing..."
• "...What all of the sources agree about is the extensive cover-up of data and information about COVID-19 orchestrated by the Chinese government..."

You can read the full Fox News report HERE

The back-and-forth between the Chinese Communists, who appear to be scrambling to counter American allegations that China has been at fault in the spread of the Coronavirus, due to strong suspicions that it has not being fully forthcoming about the virulence of the virus, and the Americans' looking to assign accountability for the perceived shortcomings by the Chinese, is given even greater context, as U.S. President Donald Trump took action to suspend payment of funds to the World Health Organization (WHO), which Trump has alleged contributed heavily to a cover-up.

The controversy continues to cloud and overshadow the Trump Administrations' efforts to reopen the U.S., after actions to thwart the effects of the Coronavirus have resulted in the paralysis of major parts of the U.S. economy.