Originally posted by the Voice of America.
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Wuhan Residents Skeptical of Claim City Has Zero Hospitalized COVID-19
Patients

Joyce Huang

   Chinese officials said there are no coronavirus patients in hospitals
   across Hubei province, whose capital, Wuhan, was the epicenter of the
   global pandemic. Many residents and netizens from elsewhere, however,
   remain skeptical of the government's claim about Wuhan.

   "Given the problem of information asymmetry we face, my gut feeling
   tells me that this zero-patient report is merely a political show after
   the authorities announced earlier that no treatment was necessary for
   recovered patients testing positive," a Wuhan resident told VOA on
   Monday via a social messaging app.

   The resident asked to be identified only as "Mr. Yang" for safety
   reasons.

   A political show?

   China puts on the political show because "the harm from shutting down
   the factories has caused a worse impact on the ruling regime than that
   from the virus itself," Yang added.

   Yang was referring to comments made by Jian Yahui, an official with
   China's National Health Commission.

   Jian on Friday said that the number of patients in Wuhan then stood at
   47, more than 30 of whom had shown no symptoms but continued to test
   positive in nucleic acid tests.

   These patients no longer need treatment, Jian said, according to a
   report in China's state-run Global Times newspaper.

   The report then cited Yang Zhanqiu, deputy director of the Pathogen
   Biology Department at the Wuhan University, saying that these patients
   wouldn't be allowed to leave the hospital until two successive negative
   test results are obtained -- a national discharge standard to ease
   public concerns. But on Monday, health authorities in Wuhan and Hubei
   both claimed to have zero coronavirus patients.

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