Misinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic by China

In December 2019, Li Wenliang, an opthamologist at Wuhan Central Hospital had advised his colleagues and raised awareness about a SARS-like virus that was subsequently identified as coronavirus. On December 30, he posted his concerns on social media about the potential spread of the virus, which led to his detainment on January 3, 2020 by police with the Public Security Bureau. He was one of eight people under investigation for spreading rumours.[3] He was not only told to stop, he had to sign an official statement admitting that "he had breached the law and had 'seriously disrupted social order'.”[6] In those first weeks, authorities were silencing doctors and anyone else who dared raise a red flag about the virus.[7] The dangers to the public had been downplayed, leaving 11 million Wuhon residents unaware and vulnerable to the virus. Political motivations were blamed in part for the reluctance by local officials to go public as they were "preparing for their annual congresses in January".[7] Despite the increase in COVID cases, officials continued to declare that "there had likely been no more infections."[7] Li contracted the virus after treating a woman for glaucoma on January 10, unaware that she had been infected by the virus. Li was diagnosed with COVID-19 on January 30, 2020, and died February 7 at age 34.[7][8] Public outrage followed, causing China to increase its censorship efforts to suppress online criticism and the fact that investigative reporting had "exposed missteps by officials who underestimated and underplayed the threat of the coronavirus."[8] Stephen McDonell, BBC correspondent in Beijing said, "Now the spin doctors and censors will try to find a way to convince 1.4 billion people that Dr Li's death is not a clear example of the limits to the party's ability to manage an emergency - when openness can save lives, and restricting it can kill."[3] An article in The New York Times stated that, "Beijing has turned to state media to transform Dr. Li into a loyal soldier aligned with the government’s cause"; however, the Times alluded to Beijing's decision being the result of their inability "to fully expunge the discussions" and angry outcries by the Chinese people that were pouring in over social media along with demands for apologies from the government for the mistreatment of Li and other whistleblowers, now martyrs in death.[9]

The New York Times wrote, "The government’s initial handling of the epidemic allowed the virus to gain a tenacious hold. At critical moments, officials chose to put secrecy and order ahead of openly confronting the growing crisis to avoid public alarm and political embarrassment."[7] As of March 27, 2020, the Chinese government's official report showed 2,548 people had died from COVID-19 in Wuhan, where the virus first emerged in December 2019.[10][11] Some Chinese raised questions about the government's official tally as thousands of urns were shipped to several funeral homes, giving rise to growing skepticism particularly in light of "Wuhan’s overwhelmed medical system, authorities’ attempts to cover up the outbreak in its initial stages, and multiple revisions to the way official cases are counted."[11] After the increase in the death count was revealed, the Chinese government denied any attempt to cover-up or spread misinformation about the actual numbers.[12] French President Emmanuel Macron, the US and UK along with other Western leaders questioned China's transparency and expressed doubt over the accuracy of the official statistics.[13] Updated numbers indicated an increase of nearly 1,300 deaths in Wuhan, raising the death total to 3,869. As of April 17, 2020, the official nationwide death toll in China was 4,632.

By the end of December 2020, China had the virus under control. The BBC published a retrospective into how the state-controlled media and China's online government censors had suppressed negative information and propagandized what was reported.[14] Blame ran rampant, and in mid-January 2019 Chinese President Xi Jinping no longer appeared in China's media, in public, or in photographs on the pages of traditional government publications. Some speculated that his sudden disappearance was to avoid blame. In February, after the blame had been shifted away from the Chinese president to the leadership in Wuhan and other local governments, the Chinese president reappeared.[14]

The Chinese government has claimed that COVID-19 may have first been transmitted to Wuhan from abroad, via frozen food imports.[26][16][27]

Scientists from the World Health Organization and several western food safety agencies have said there is no evidence for Covid-19 being transmitted through the food chain and that the risks are "negligible".[28][29][30][31]

On 12 March 2020, two spokesmen for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Zhao Lijian and Geng Shuang, alleged at a press conference that Western powers may have "bio-engineered" the coronavirus, alluding to the US Government, but more specifically to the US Army as having created and spread the virus.[32]

In January 2021, Hua Chunying renewed the conspiracy theory from Lijian and Shuang that the SARS-CoV-2 virus originating in the United States at the U.S. biological weapons lab Fort Detrick. This conspiracy theory quickly went trending on the Chinese social media platform Weibo, and Chunying continued to cite evidence on Twitter, while asking the government of the United States to open up Fort Detrick for further investigation to determine if it is the source of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.[33][34]

In June 2020, the Chinese government published a white paper, claiming over 92% of COVID-19 cases in China were treated with traditional Chinese medicine.[35]

In January of 2021, multiple Chinese state media outlets, including CGTN and Global Times raised doubts about the efficacy of Pfizer vaccine, calling for an investigation into the deaths of elderly people in Norway and Germany after receiving the vaccine. According to Reuters, the reports made allegations of "deliberately downplaying the deaths” and “using propaganda power to promote the Pfizer vaccine and smearing Chinese vaccines" and touted Chinese vaccines as "relatively safer due to their mature technology". [36]