Search icon

Coronavirus

01st Apr 2020

Emily Thornberry: Is China accurately reporting COVID-19 cases?

Oli Dugmore

Has China contained the virus in the manner it claims to have?

As the outbreak of COVID-19 continues to devastate a large portion of the world, scrutiny has grown on China. The virus is believed to have originated in the city of Wuhan in the Hubei Province. After initiating draconian measures to bring the virus’ spread to a halt, much of the country is attempting to return to life as normal.

But has it accurately reported its cases of coronavirus? Many people don’t think so, partly down to the ruling Communist Party’s secretive way of operating, and due also to the fact that they suppressed news of the break out in the first place, dismissing them as ‘rumours’.

Emily Thornberry is the shadow foreign secretary and Labour MP for Islington South and Finsbury.

She spoke to us about deploying the RAF to rescue Britons stranded abroad, whether China is telling the truth and, her favourite politician, Donald Trump.