Thread by @jenniferatntd

1. This Chinese article "Tracking the Source of Novel #Coronavirus Gene Sequencing: When the Alarm Goes Off" gives us important "behind the scenes" info about this #COVID19 affair. It shows...
Full article in Chinese:
bit.ly/393ojFr

1) The Test Result of the First Case Came Out as Early as Dec. 27
2) Another lab also assembled a nearly complete viral genome sequence on Dec 27 and had shared the info with the Institute of Pathogens, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.

3) On Dec 30, a lab in Beijing reported a "SARS coronavirus", and this caused the attention of #Wuhan doctors, including #LiWenLiang who already died of #COVID19. The doctors warned the public, but got arrested and punished by police.

4) On Dec 27, Dr. Zhang Jixian reported four cases of "consecutive unidentified pneumonia cases" to Jianghan CDC. Because of his persistence, the Health Commission of Wuhan issued a notice "Emergency Notice on Doing a Good Job in the Treatment of Unexplained Pneumonia".

4)(continued) That was the first time info of the epidemic was transmitted to the outside world.

5) On Jan 5, Zhang Yongzhen's team in Shanghai detected a new SARS-like coronavirus and recommended that appropriate disease control and prevention measures be taken in public. On January 6, an internal secondary emergency response was initiated within the China CDC.

6) However, on Feb. 1, a researcher at a gene sequencing company received a phone call from an official of the Health Commission of Hubei Province, informing him that if they receive samples of cases of novel coronavirus pneumonia in Wuhan, they could on longer test them.

6)(contiuned) Existing case samples must be destroyed, sample information cannot be disclosed, and related papers and related data cannot be released to the public. "If you detect it in the future, you must report it to us."

7) The Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Virology received the virus samples on December 30, performed virus isolation on January 1, 2020, completed the virus gene sequencing on January 2, and isolated the virus strain on January 5, and submitted it to ...

7)(continued 1)the National Virus Resource Library on the 9th. However, none of these results (obtained through very hard work by researchers) were disclosed to the outside.

7)(continued 2) Only in February, when faced with critisise, did the authorities reluctantly release a very small amount of info was to the public.

8)"The days from the end of Dec 2019 to the beginning of Jan this year should have been a crucial moment in determining the fate of countless people. But at that time, the public was yet to know the consequences this virus would bring to us in the future. "The article says.