CHINA'S HISTORY OF HIDING EPIDEMICS

   But, leaving all this aside, there is no doubt on one key point. The Chinese Communist Party has a long history of covering up epidemics within China, and then carelessly — or deliberately — allowing them to spread around the world.
   The fall of 1957 saw an outbreak of what came to be known as the Asian flu. It was first reported in the cities of Singapore and Hong Kong, but this new and deadly influenza soon went global.
   China played no role in its creation — in this case the offending virus truly did have a natural origin — but it certainly did play a role in its spread. The new flu had arisen in the interior province of Guizhou in early 1957, and had spread throughout China in the months following. But even as tens of thousands of Chinese lay dying, the epidemic was kept hidden from view by the Communist authorities.