‘Wuhan initially downplayed crisis'

Prof. Dali Yang explains how the outbreak slipped through China’s system

- Ananth Krishnan

On December 31, Wuhan announced an outbreak of viral pneumonia. Until January 19, authorities would maintain there was no proof of human-to-human transmission but the following day, China’s government would reveal otherwise. Decisions taken during those vital 21 days would come to affect the lives of millions. Studies suggest while China’s January 23 lockdown of 50 million people averted an additional 7,00,000 cases outside Wuhan, interventions one week and three weeks earlier may have brought down the number by 66% and 95%, respectively. In an interview, Dali Yang, Professor of political science at the University of Chicago and a leading expert on China’s political system, explains how the epidemic slipped through the many layers of China’s system during those 21 days. Edited excerpts:

We now know by end-December, many doctors in Wuhan were aware of a serious outbreak which some suspected was contagious, and by December 31, they had alerted the Wuhan Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). What should have happened next?