The first case of [[COVID-19]] was medically verified in China on December 8, 2019 and first death occurred on December 9. The doctor who reported on the first verified cases posted on [[social media]] was forced to plead guilty to "rumormongering" and disrupting social order in late December 2019. The Beijing central government attempted to hide the outbreak from the people of [[Wuhan]] and the world. The [[Chinese Communist Party]] finally admitted publicly that a full blown [[pandemic]] was occurring in Wuhan on January 23, 2020. The doctor who first warned the public was convicted of a crime for doing so, died on February 4, 2020. Eight hundred million people expressed their condolences on Chinese social media in 24 hours after his death was announced. | The first case of [[COVID-19]] was medically verified in China on December 8, 2019 and first death occurred on December 9. The doctor who reported on the first verified cases posted on [[social media]] was forced to plead guilty to "rumormongering" and disrupting social order in late December 2019. The Beijing central government attempted to hide the outbreak from the people of [[Wuhan]] and the world. The [[Chinese Communist Party]] finally admitted publicly that a full blown [[pandemic]] was occurring in Wuhan on January 23, 2020. The doctor who first warned the public was convicted of a crime for doing so, died on February 4, 2020. Eight hundred million people expressed their condolences on Chinese social media in 24 hours after his death was announced. |