China patent of drug suggest it was aware of deadly impact of coronavirus much earlier than it admitted

Daily Mail:
China filed a patent for a drug seen as one of the best potential weapons against coronavirus the day after it confirmed human transmission of the disease.

The revelation that it moved so fast fuels concerns about a cover-up of the pandemic when it erupted in Wuhan last year, and suggests that China’s understanding of the virus was far advanced from the impression given by its public stance.

Last night, Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, joined the growing global clamour for a full, independent inquiry into China’s role.
...
China’s Communist Party leaders face accusations that they suppressed data, blocked public health teams from investigating, silenced doctors seeking to warn the world about the epidemic and delayed admitting there was human transmission.

The contagious nature of the virus was confirmed by President Xi Jinping on January 20. Leaked documents have shown that even after officials knew they faced an epidemic, they delayed warning the public for six days.

On January 21, a patent for commercial use of Remdesivir – a drug initially created by an American pharmaceutical firm to fight ebola – was filed in China.

The application was made by Wuhan Institute of Virology, the top-secret bio-laboratory at the centre of concerns about a possible leak of the disease from its research on bats, and the country’s Military Medicine Institute.

The move was described as ‘provocative’ by one website specialising in clinical research.

Gilead, the California-based developer of the drug, says it filed its own global applications for Remdesivir’s use against coronavirus four years ago. Countries, firms and scientists around the world are collaborating in the race to find effective treatments and vaccines.

The winners will derive immense prestige – and would boost China’s narrative that its response deserves praise, not opprobrium.

Gilead said it was aware of the Chinese move but had no influence over the patent office’s decision and could not comment since precise details of the application would not be published until next year. ‘Our focus at this time is on rapidly determining the potential for Remdesivir as a treatment for Covid-19 and accelerating manufacturing in anticipation of potential future supply needs,’ a spokesman added.
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China has failed to make a case for why it waited at least six days to notify the world about the disease, but it looks like with this patent China hoped to profit from the virus.  The Who also waited to notify the world about the virus despite the fact that one of their own doctors told them it was a problem.

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