Human Rights Platform Accused Chinese Authorities for Faulty Handling the Coronavirus Outbreak

Human Rights Watch accused China of suppressing criticism of its response to the deadly novel coronavirus and said it had made the outbreak worse.

HRW chief Kenneth Roth also criticised the Chinese Government’s lockdown on various cities in an attempt to contain the virus as a “sledgehammer” approach.

“There have been big problems in China’s response to the coronavirus that have worsened the outbreak,” Roth told reporters in Geneva, although he also said China deserved credit for sharing the DNA sequence of the virus early on. Roth pointed in particular to what he said was the “suppression” of reports on the virus in China during the early days of the outbreak, as well as subsequent efforts to stamp out criticism of its response on social media.