Officials in China have confirmed the first known case of a human being infected with the H10N3 strain of bird flu, but immediately said it was the only case and the risk of “large-scale spread” is low.
The statement immediately drew expressions of disbelief on social media, because of the Communist regime’s handling of COVID-19, which it first described as unlikely to be contagious human-to-human, yet it quickly spread around the globe and killed millions.
The announcement this week from China was reported by several outlets:
The Chinese government says a 41-year-old man has contracted what might be the world’s first human case of the H10N3 strain of bird flu, but that the risk of large-scale spread is low. China’s National Health Commission said the man is in stable condition. https://t.co/Vah26xIe6L
— The Associated Press (@AP) June 1, 2021
AP reported the victim was a 41-year-old man in Jiangsu province and he was in stable condition. The Chinese National Health Commission said, “This infection is an accidental cross-species transmission. The risk of large-scale transmission is low.”
Fox News reported the man is from Zhenjiang and was hospitalized weeks ago – April 28 – “after developing a fever and other symptoms. He was diagnosed as having the H10N3 avian influenza virus a month later.”
That contrasts with the better-known H5N1 strain, which has a 60% mortality rate, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
Reuters reported there are many strains of avian influenza in China, but none has had a significant impact on humans since the 2016 cases of H7N9 that killed some 300.
In a commentary, Twitchy said, “Well, if the Chinese government says [the risk of transmission] is low, that’s good enough for us.”
It continued, “At least we’re hearing about it, OK? And there’s only one case, which is practically zero cases, which is the same number of deadly COVID-19 cases that China first told us about and … ah, OK. We’re starting to see the problem here.”
Actually, not only did China decline to provide transparency when the COVID-19 pandemic erupted near Wuhan and its virology lab there doing experiments on coronaviruses, the Daily Caller News Foundation reported authorities there even refused to share raw data on 174 early cases of COVID-19 with World Health Organization investigators.
“They showed us a couple of examples, but that’s not the same as doing all of them, which is standard epidemiological investigation,” Dominic Dwyer, an Australian microbiologist on the WHO team, said at the time.
A team of 10 scientists, including one American, traveled to China in January to investigate several theories about the origins of the virus, including that an accident in a lab in Wuhan was responsible for the first human infection.
Chinese officials have asserted, without providing evidence, that the virus first took hold in Italy or another European country.
But the world’s focus now is centering on the Wuhan Institute of Virology as a likely source, after a year of media rejection of the idea mostly because President Trump immediately expressed his suspicions of the center.
The report explained on Jan. 14, 2020, WHO tweeted out an assurance from Chinese officials that the COVID-19 virus likely did not spread from person to person.
And it appears China still has not come to grips with its own COVID-19 problem, either.
Reuters reported this week China is fighting a “sudden surge in COVID-19 infections in the country’s south.”
New cases in Guangzhou triggered a flurry of flight cancellations, and new requirements for travelers to document a negative COVID test were put into place.
“On Saturday, Guangzhou government ordered residents on five streets in the city’s Liwan district to remain at home and suspended non-essential activities, while entertainment venues and markets were closed,” the report said.
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