You’ve quoted the WHO accurately which is actually more damning. Taiwanese scientists had observed evidence of human-to-human transmission and submitted it to

You’ve quoted the WHO accurately which is actually more damning. Taiwanese scientists had observed evidence of human-to-human transmission and submitted it to the WHO well before that and they ignored it. Positive evidence of human-to-human transmission had also been reported in Thailand. See Zeynep Tufecki’s Account of the timeline from last April. https://www.google.ca/amp/s/amp.theatlantic.com/amp/article/610063/ https://www.google.ca/amp/s/amp.theatlantic.com/amp/article/... > Hong Kong and Taiwan remembered that China has a history of covering up epidemics. In 2003, the world didn’t learn about SARS until after it had escaped China and become impossible to deny. (Back then, the WHO openly criticized China for its lack of transparency and cover-up, and we contained the epidemic just in the nick of time.) This time, the WHO was told the truth early on: Taiwanese health authorities sent their own medical teams to Wuhan in December. Those scientists confirmed human-to-human transmission—the most crucial piece of information for determining the difference between a local tragedy (if viruses are only jumping from infected bats or pangolins to humans in wildlife markets where people interact directly with them) and a brewing global pandemic. Taiwan isn’t allowed to be a member of the WHO, because of China’s objections, but it still informed the organization. Hong Kong health authorities, too, announced as early as January 4 that they suspected human-to-human transmission was already occurring, as they also looked at the evidence and their own contacts in Wuhan.