Report: Wuhan Doctor, Coronavirus Whistleblower Goes Missing
As COVID-19 has spread across the globe, so too has the campaign of misinformation from Chinese authorities.
If the virus has proven anything definitively, it is that information promoted by the Chinese government cannot be trusted.
When the outbreak started, China engaged in a cover-up rather than warn other countries with accurate information, as Axios has documented.
Doctors with information about the virus were censored and silenced when they tried to sound the alarm.
Now, the Chinese government is attempting to erase the cover-up and claim they were open and honest with the world all along.
The latest victim of China’s ruthless censorship could be Ai Fen, a doctor from Wuhan, where the outbreak started.
While it’s unclear what exactly has happened to her, Ai’s sudden disappearance after blowing the whistle on Chinese authorities suggests the government has retaliated.
According to Nine Network’s “60 Minutes Australia,” Ai was the head of the emergency at Wuhan Central hospital.
After she publicly claimed authorities had prevented her from warning the world about COVID-19, she disappeared.
Just two weeks ago the head of Emergency at Wuhan Central hospital went public, saying authorities had stopped her and her colleagues from warning the world. She has now disappeared, her whereabouts unknown. #60Mins pic.twitter.com/3Jt2qbLKUb
— 60 Minutes Australia (@60Mins) March 29, 2020
Ai had told a Chinese magazine earlier this month she was censored for telling fellow doctors about the virus in December.
“If I had known what was to happen, I would not have cared about the reprimand. I would have f—ing talked about it to whoever, where ever I could,” she reportedly said
According to The Guardian, Chinese censors have worked hard to try and scrub the contents of that interview from the internet, though internet users have taken screen shots to ensure it does not disappear entirely.
It appears China’s censorship objectives have progressed past the original goal of stopping news of the virus from spreading.
Chinese authorities are now censoring people for pointing out the original crackdown on information, which led directly to its worldwide spread.
A study from the U.K.’s University of Southampton reveals the devastating effect of China’s attempts at covering up the outbreak.
According to the study, if intervention — “such as early detection, isolation of cases, travel restrictions and cordon sanitaire,” according to the university — had been allowed within China three weeks earlier, the total number of cases in the country could have been reduced by up to 95 percent.
These findings provide plenty of motivation for China to attempt to deflect responsibility.
Not only did the virus originate in Wuhan, but the incompetence and deception of the Chinese government directly lead to the current global pandemic.
Ai has disappeared shortly after pointing out the censorship of Chinese authorities, “60 Minutes Australia” reported Sunday.
According to Radio Free Asia, a bizarre post appeared on one of her social media accounts shortly after the segment aired.
But that post, with an image of a road in Wuhan attached to it, only added to the growing concern for her whereabouts.
“Detainees in police or other official custody have been known to have their social media accounts updated, either by themselves acting under orders from the authorities, or after police gain access to their devices,” Radio Free Asia reported.
Ai’s disappearance is not an isolated incident. Other medical professionals and journalists have also been silenced for statements that cast blame upon the Chinese government.
Dr. Li Wenliang was one of the first to attempt to warn people about COVID-19.
Days later, he was among a group of eight people detained by the Chinese government and questioned for making online statements, the BBC reported.
According to CNN, Li was reprimanded for “severely disrupting social order” by warning people about the virus.
Li eventually contracted the coronavirus and died.
It seems the coronavirus crisis has been an opportunity for the communist regime in China to flex its authoritarian muscles and engage in totalitarian abuse of its own citizens.
The contrast between liberty and tyranny has never been clearer than in the reactions of world governments to the virus.
Unfortunately, the rest of the world is still suffering the consequences of the Chinese government’s cover-up.
The disappearance of Ai Fen suggests that those who speak out are still subject to retribution from the Chinese authorities.
As countries around the world cope with the fallout from the virus, it is imperative that China be held accountable and not be permitted to rewrite history.
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