New Delhi: Due to the coronavirus outbreak that originated in the wet markets of Wuhan, and the belief that Chinese authorities took too long to inform the world about the virus and its potential, China is perhaps the most unpopular country in the world right now.
Some countries are vocal about their discontent with China such as the US, while some are more diplomatic, such as India.
To investigate the possibility that the Chinese had hid the truth about Covid-19 in the early months, American journalist Fareed Zakaria did a long show on CNN called
According to Zakaria, the Chinese found strange pneumonia cases in Wuhan that were not responding to any treatments in mid-December last year. Then, on 30 December, Dr Li Wenliang, a doctor from the region, was put under detention for spreading ‘fake news’ when he shared the information with fellow doctors about a new suspicious virus.
On 9 January, Chinese authorities informed the World Health Organization about a new coronavirus but claimed that it was non-communicable among human beings. This made other countries complacent.
The Chinese Communist Party even held a big banquet on Chinese Lunar New Year in Wuhan that was attended by thousands of people. This became the first and the biggest Covid cluster.
The first case of Covid-19 outside China was found in Thailand on 14 January. By this time, Chinese President Xi Jinping knew that this virus can potentially cause a global pandemic but he did not tell anyone for six days, and denied information to the world that could have been useful.
After this, alarmed with the rise in cases, Chinese authorities imposed a harsh lockdown in Wuhan and through an intensive surveillance mechanism physically dragged not only Covid-19 suspects but also opponents of government into quarantine centres.
A hockey legend and his patriotism
Indian hockey legend, Balbir Singh Sr passed away Monday at the age of 96. He won three Olympic gold medals for India in field hockey in London (1948) and Helsinki (1952) as vice-captain, and in Melbourne (1956) as captain.
He had scored five goals in India’s 6-1 victory over the Netherlands in the gold medal match of the 1952 Helsinki Games. He was conferred with the Padma Shri in 1957 and is the only Indian to be in the International Olympic Committee’s list of 16 greatest athletes of all times.
In 1975, he won India the hockey world cup as the coach. The Indian team was very divided at the time and his major contribution was to unite the team.
Singh, in his interaction with Shekhar Gupta in Walk the Talk, kept stressing how it was the Indian tricolour flag that drove him to play hockey so that he could bring glory to his motherland.
Watch the full episode of CTC here: