Rumor Buster: Does China show lack of transparency on coronavirus epidemic?

Some Western media and White House officials have recently made unnecessary and groundless claims saying that China has shown a "lack of transparency" in dealing with information related to the novel coronavirus epidemic.

These allegations are obviously not grounded in facts. The Chinese authorities have taken visible and transparent measures to respond to public concerns and work closely with the international community to fight the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

First, China, in a timely manner, shared the information of the virus' genetic sequence and other relevant information with the world, a significant step for other countries and international organizations to carry out immediate research for the development of treatments.

Second, both the central and local-level governments hold daily news conferences, updating the numbers of new confirmed cases, deaths, patients in severe condition and recoveries in detail, and introducing the current situation and latest developments regarding the epidemic's prevention and treatment in China.

Third, Chinese researchers have published a series of academic papers on their early findings of the novel coronavirus in medical journals such as the Lancet and the New England Journal of Medicine, sharing the results of their research with the world.

Last but not least, China has repeatedly made it clear that it welcomes efforts and support from around the world and is ready to cooperate closely with foreign governments, experts, companies and organizations to jointly combat the illness.

At the moment, a WHO team of international experts are in China and working with their Chinese counterparts to find more methods to better treat and prevent a further spread of the epidemic.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO, has highly praised the "speed with which China detected the outbreak, isolated the virus, sequenced the genome and shared it with the WHO and the world."

"So is China's commitment to transparency and to supporting other countries. In many ways, China is actually setting a new standard for outbreak response," he added.