A woman from Wuhan, China, is suing the Chinese government for covering up facts about the coronavirus pandemic, which killed her father.
What We Kow:
- Zhao Lei, 39, is taking legal action against the Chinese government for hiding the truth about COVID-19 from the public in January. Zhao told Sky News that “people carried on living like before, they celebrated Chinese New Year normally, without taking any protection. It meant my father got infected and died.” She is looking for compensation and an apology.
- Her lawsuit has already been rejected at the local level by Wuhan’s court system. Sky News reported that Zhao was a victim of police intimidation. Chinese police told her to drop the case and not talk publicly and even visited her mother.
- Although the Wuhan courts rejected her case, Zhao is taking it to the supreme court of Hubei, which is the province where Wuhan is located. “I think my lawsuit is good for our country. It can warn people that if we have a disaster next time, we could do something to prevent bad outcomes. We can save more people,” said Zhao.
- Zhao said that she is taking her case to court because of the passing of her father in January. Her family could not get an ambulance to the hospital because health services were already at capacity and her father died in the emergency waiting room.
China has repeatedly been accused of mishandling the early days of the pandemic. U.S. intelligence found that it took weeks for Wuhan officials to report the threat of coronavirus to Beijing. Authorities were also accused of silencing whistleblowers who wished to warn the public.
