Since our last update Friday evening, the situation on the ground in China has reportedly gone from bad to worse. The true extent of Beijing's 'quarantine' has been exposed - and not just the ridiculously oppressive tactics exercised on sick people simply out trying to buy food so they don't starve, but the even more bizarre notion that the WHO has decided to try and validate Beijing's response when all evidence suggests that public relations is and always will be Beijing's No. 1 concern.
By most recent count, total cases have eclipsed 12,000, while confirmed deaths inside China have hit 259. More than 100,000 people are still under observation, as we reported last night. The 46 new deaths announced last night (Saturday morning in China) was the largest daily death toll (that was the total from Friday) since the start of the crisis.
To that end, a report reportedly signed by hundreds of doctors blaming the Communist Party's leadership for waiting a month to inform the Chinese public and the international community that the virus could spread from human-to-human contact. The leadership was apparently aware of this fact as early as mid-December, yet they actively concealed it until the situation started getting out of hand and cases were being confirmed in neighboring countries.
China's finance ministry has finally announced that it's going to lift import taxes on American-made medical products needed to help combat the outbreak (it's interesting how it took them nearly - checks notes - two months since the start of the outbreak to lift the trade-war tariffs).
ABC News is the latest American media outlet to collect footage from Wuhan via drone. The haunting footage clearly shows the scope of the lockdown. An entire city as big as New York, with almost nobody outside or in the streets.
This is becoming an increasingly common sight across China. On Saturday, Huanggang, a city of 6 million people near Wuhan, has banned residents from leaving their homes in an effort to stop the coronavirus. The ban states that 1 person per family can leave every other day to buy basic needs.
It's the first city to declare a lockdown on par with Wuhan's total ban of people leaving their homes. Meanwhile Huanggang's mayor warned on Saturday that a "significant" increase in the number of confirmed cases on Saturday or Sunday.
Here's a video of a doctor from Huanggang saying the media won't dare report the true infection totals from Huanggang, adding that it's almost as bad as Wuhan.
A doctor was filmed saying the media does not dare to report the true figures of infections in the city of Huanggang, which is near #Wuhan, repeating that 3 local hospitals were filled with patients presented with fever. pic.twitter.com/FYHjxRJLXG...