Almost a year since the novel coronavirus made its way around the world, from an initial outbreak in Wuhan, China, the Chinese Government remains resolute that it was transparent from the start.

Spokesman at the Chinese embassy in Kingston, Xia Shaowu said there has never been any cover up.

“There’s a clear timeline of China’s effort to fight COVID-19, which is open and transparent. At the earliest time possible we reported the epidemic to the WHO (World Health Organization), identified the pathogen and shared its genome sequence with the world, and we shared our information and containment experience of the virus with other countries and regions in a timely manner. These are facts that can stand the test of time. Accusations of China covering up the epidemic are simply groundless,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

The spokesman stressed that China was among the first to have put the virus under control, to have resumed work and production, and to have realised economic stability and recovery.

“China’s achievements in fighting the pandemic are the best response to the fallacy of China concealing the virus,” he stated.

With the emergence now of the first vaccines against the novel coronavirus, Xia pointed out that the Chinese Government and companies have been proactively participating in international cooperation on vaccines through bilateral and multilateral channels.

“Besides cooperation with other countries on clinical trials, China is also in close communication and cooperation with international organisations such as the WHO, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations. We are part of the WHO-sponsored Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator initiative and the Solidarity Trial for COVID-19 treatments. China has also joined COVAX to promote fair distribution of vaccines, ensure the provision of vaccines for developing countries, and encourage more capable countries to support COVAX,” he outlined.

The spokesman said his Government hopes the Chinese vaccines, when they are ready, will be included in the COVAX procurement list as soon as possible, which will contribute to the accessibility and affordability of vaccines in developing countries.

Up to December 30, China continued to record low double-digit new infections even as a variant strain of the virus sent parts of Britain into lockdown, stirring new fears around the world, and some countries blocking incoming passengers from that country. At the height of the spread of the virus across the globe, China experienced daily new cases in the thousands.

According to the World Health Organization’s December 29 global situation report on COVID-19, in the past week, over four million new COVID-19 cases and 72, 000 new deaths were reported. This brings the cumulative numbers to over 79 million reported cases and over 1.7 million deaths globally since the start of the pandemic, the WHO said.

The Americas accounts for 48 per cent of all new cases and 42 per cent of all new deaths globally. At the same time, WHO advised that cases and deaths declined in South East Asia and Eastern Mediterranean regions, while in the African region, while both new cases and deaths remained low compared to other regions, there was a 20 per cent increase in new cases and 37 per cent in new deaths. New cases and deaths remain high in the European region, which accounted for 37 per cent and 42 per cent, respectively, of global cases and deaths.

Locally, there were 12,827 confirmed cases of the virus up to last Wednesday.

Kingston and St Andrew continues to record the highest number of cases, at 3,898. There are now 302 deaths.