The World Health Organization (WHO) now says Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials did not report the CCP virus outbreak late last year to officials at the organization.
WHO officials have said for months that CCP officials disclosed the existence of the outbreak to the WHO and repeatedly praised Chinese authorities for their supposed transparency.
But a new, official timeline WHO published this week undercuts its earlier claims.
The WHO now says that its office in China “picked up a media statement by the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission from their website” on cases of so-called viral pneumonia in the Chinese city.
The office then passed on word of the existence of the virus.
A previous version of the timeline alleged the health commission “reported a cluster of cases of pneumonia in Wuhan, Hubei Province.”
The WHO didn’t respond to a request for comment.
U.S. lawmakers last month said an investigation showed the WHO “enabled the CCP cover-up by failing to investigate and publicize reports conflicting with the official CCP, while at the same time praising the CCP’s response.”
Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), who led the congressional investigation, said in a statement that he was glad the WHO and CCP “have both read my interim report on the origins of the pandemic and are finally admitting to the world the truth—the CCP never reported the virus outbreak to the WHO in violation of WHO regulations.”
“The question now is whether the CCP will continue their false propaganda campaign that continues to claim they warned the world or whether they will come clean and begin to work with the world health community to get to the bottom of this deadly pandemic,” he added.
According to the WHO’s new timeline, the organization requested information from Chinese authorities on the cluster of cases on Jan. 1, the day after its office learned of the existence through the media statement. On Jan. 2, the WHO’s representative in China wrote to the National Health Commission requesting more information on the cluster.
Chinese officials didn’t provide information until Jan. 3.
WHO leaders are close with communist officials and have received harsh criticism from countries around the world for parroting propaganda from the Chinese regime. Chinese officials hid details of the virus and manipulated figures throughout the early days of the pandemic, according to internal documents obtained by The Epoch Times.
CCP officials have denied wrongdoing.
The United States formally terminated its relationship with the WHO because the body didn’t take significant steps to prove independence from the CCP, President Donald Trump said.
America provided some $400 million to the body annually, making the United States the WHO’s largest funding source.
That money was shifted to other groups, such as the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders.
From The Epoch Times
