Family members accuse the provincial governments of Wuhan and Hubei of allowing Kovid-19 out of control to try to hide the outbreak.
Relatives of coronovirus victims in Wuhan said on Wednesday that Chinese authorities have ended their group on social media and are pressuring them to remain silent while the World Health Organization team is in the city to investigate.
Dozens of family members gathered online to ask for responsibility to Wuhan officials, who were responsible for the poor management of the outbreak that had spread a year earlier in the city.
Their efforts have so far been threatened by official obstruction, surveillance and family members by groups on social media.
But the pressure has increased in recent times, apparently to silence any criticism during the WHO’s fragile investigation.
In the past year, a group on the social network WeChat used by 80 and 100 family members was removed suddenly and without explanation ten days ago, a member of the group is Zhang Hai and very important in managing the epidemic. .
“It shows that [as autoridades chinesas] Very nervous. They fear that these families will contact WHO experts, ”said 51-year-old Zhang, whose father died at the start of the epidemic due to suspected Kovid-19.
WHO experts arrived in Wuhan on 14 January and are expected to end their 14-day quarantine on Thursday.
“When WHO arrived in Wuhan, [as autoridades] Eliminated [o grupo] Power. As a result, we lost contact with many members, ”Zhang said.
Other family members confirmed the group’s elimination. WeChat belongs to Chinese digital giant Tencent.
In China, the most popular forums often remove content considered objectionable by the government.
“courage” –
Family members tried to hide the outbreak when it first appeared in the city in December 2019, accusing the provincial governments of Wuhan and Hubei of allowing Kovid-19 out of control, and then alerting the public not for.
According to official Chinese data, Kovid-19 killed about 3,900 people in Wuhan, the largest proportion of 4,636 deaths recorded in China.
These numbers are suspected by many family members due to lack of tests in the first days of the outbreak.
So far, Kovid-19 has killed two million more people worldwide.
Although China has largely controlled the epidemic in its region, it has also thwarted independent efforts to trace its origins. Furthermore, it indicated without evidence that the epidemic had arisen elsewhere.
A team of WHO experts finally managed to enter Wuhan two weeks ago. As part of the stringent security measures, its highly probed genesis of the virus will begin on Thursday.
The Communist Party government hides any issue that presents a bad image of its government and the very early days of the virus remain very sensitive issues.
Several members of Wuhan’s family have tried to file a complaint seeking compensation and pleading guilty to the employees, but say the courts have refused to accept them.
The Wuhan government did not respond to AFP’s questions about the families and their complaints.
Zhang asked WHO experts to meet with family members “with courage”, although he acknowledged that such a meeting is not very likely.
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