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China didn't warn public of coronavirus pandemic for 6 days: Report

President Xi Jinping warned the public on the seventh day, January 20. But by that time, more than 3,000 people had been infected during almost a week of public silence

Members of a medical team pose for a group photo at the Wuhan Tianhe International Airport after travel restrictions to leave Wuhan were lifted. Photo: Reuters
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Members of a medical team pose for a group photo at the Wuhan Tianhe International Airport after travel restrictions to leave Wuhan were lifted. Photo: Reuters

Agencies
In the six days after top Chinese officials secretly determined they likely were facing a pandemic from a new coronavirus, the city of Wuhan at the epicentre of the disease hosted a mass banquet for tens of thousands of people; millions began traveling through for Lunar New Year celebrations.
 
President Xi Jinping warned the public on the seventh day, January 20. But by that time, more than 3,000 people had been infected during almost a week of public silence, according to internal documents obtained by The Associated Press and expert estimates based on retrospective infection data.
 
That delay from January