 For more videos on people's struggles, please subscribe to our YouTube channel. The world first heard about COVID-19 in December 2019. Since then, nearly every corner of the planet has been affected by this pandemic. Based on what media around the world is saying, it's hard to know what's true and what's not. Here are five key questions about China and COVID-19. Did COVID-19 originate in Wuhan? After the virus outbreak, many in the United States blamed the Chinese government for the global pandemic. President Donald Trump called it the Chinese virus. Western media blamed the Chinese people based on unfounded and racist claims. Although the first clusters were linked to seafood market in Wuhan, on March 17th, a U.S. study showed that the new coronavirus strain, SARS-CoV-2, had a mutation in its genes that was unseen in any coronaviruses found in bats or pangolins. It also refutes the claim that the virus was created in a Wuhan laboratory. The virus most likely came to humans many years ago, and there's no proof that Wuhan is a source of COVID-19. This is one of the many studies showing that there's still no scientific consensus about the origins of the coronavirus. Did China suppress whistleblowers of the virus? Western media has blamed China for repressing whistleblowers. But is this the truth? On December 30th, in the early days of the outbreak, two Wuhan doctors had suspicions about a patient report. They shared these suspicions with their colleagues via social media. Because they didn't follow medical protocol, they were reprimanded. But by the time this happened, the mysterious virus had already been under investigation. Days before the incident, Dr. Jiang Juxian, another Wuhan doctor, had already reported these issues. A national team of experts had already visited Wuhan, China's National Center for Disease and Control and the WHO had already been informed. China didn't want the world to forget Dr. Li Wenliang as the US politicians have tried to claim. In fact, the government since then has honored Dr. Li as a martyr, along with 13 other frontline workers. Did China fail to warn the world about COVID-19 until it was too late? Since the first cases of COVID-19 were reported in China, there are now over 6 million confirmed cases and 370,000 deaths globally. Did the Chinese government inform the world too late? On December 29th, the Hubei provincial authorities found out about the new coronavirus. This is a month after the mysterious symptoms were first reported. On December 30th, Hubei authorities informed China's Center for Disease and Control, or the CDC. The next day, the World Health Organization was informed. From February 16th to 24th, the WHO sent a team to China. In its report, the Chinese government and people were praised for doing their utmost to stem the spread of the virus. Meanwhile, the United States had long been informed about the severity of the problem. As early as January 3rd, the Chinese CDC officials called Dr. Robert Redfield, the head of the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention. But China's warning was not taken seriously. The CDC only informed the White House three weeks later, on January 25th. President Trump would only declare a national emergency on March 13th. Today, I am officially declaring a national emergency. Was China's response to COVID-19 authoritarian? Many around the world criticized China's measures as authoritarian when Wuhan went into lockdown on January 23rd. Once human-to-human transmission of the virus was established, movement of people in and out of the city was restricted. Wuhan would remain in lockdown for 76 days. An investigation found that if China had not taken these measures, there would have been 744,000 additional confirmed cases outside of Wuhan by day 50 of the epidemic. After visiting China in February, the WHO commended the Chinese response. Since then, country after country has gone into various forms and lengths of lockdown with a global spread of the virus. Did China's medical warning system fail to respond to COVID-19? Some say that China's medical system didn't respond in time to COVID-19. Learning from the SARS outbreak of 2002 in Guangdong Province, China set up a direct reporting system to catch any health emergencies before this barrel out of control. The system has a rigorous reporting procedure. Medical personnel report to their hospital administration, which then reports to the various levels of the Center for Disease and Control and the Health Commissions. This is exactly what Dr. Zhang Juxiang did on December 26th when she reported a mysterious virus in Wuhan. There is also no evidence that the Chinese direct reporting system was faulty. Instead, there is only evidence that the system, like any system, could not easily adjust to unknown or unclassified outbreaks. Having informed the WHO, China also shared the genetic sequence of COVID-19 with the world. This allowed for tests to be created and for vaccine research to begin. China has even made a commitment that the future vaccine will be a public good accessible to all. Although China was not fully prepared to respond to an unknown virus of this magnitude, its quick scientific and fact-based approach allowed for lives to be saved and for the rest of the world to repair. Read our study, China and Corona Shock, at thetricontinental.org.