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, and the doctor who first warned the public and 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, and the doctor who first warned the public and 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. |