Originally posted by the Voice of America.
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As Death TollFromVirus Grows, More Chinese Voice Anger

Xiao Yu

   Three months ago, Wuhan resident Zhang Yi was sitting next to two local
   Hubeiprovince reporters at a restaurant. He overheard them talking
   about the Provincial Party Committee secretary, who was upset about a
   news story. The official told the reporters negative stories would no
   longer be published.

   A month later, a mysterious virus started spreading though Wuhan's
   residents, causing pneumonia-like symptoms.

   In early January, Chinese officials called this new virus "preventable
   and controllable." They said they had seen "no evidence of
   person-to-person transmission." Throughout the week of January 11, the
   Wuhan Municipal Health Commission published the same number of
   confirmed cases: 41.

   Those official statements failed to convince Zhang. In his mind, he
   kept hearing what he'd overheard the reporters talking about in the
   restaurant.

   Zhang talked to VOA right after authorities locked down Wuhan on
   January 23. That's when the official number of confirmed cases and
   deaths was 571 in 25 provinces and 17 in Hubeiprovince where Wuhan is
   the capital.Media reports on Saturday said the toll had topped 800.

   "When the epidemic first started, I knew the published statistics were
   not real," he said.

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