Chinese President Xi Jinping was revealed by a state publication to have known about the Covid-19 outbreak as early as Jan. 7, which was 13 days before he gave orders publicly to contain the virus.

Issued orders to manage Covid-19 on Jan. 7

According to the internal speech by Xi at a meeting of the Politburo Standing Committee, published on Qiushi (“Seeking truth”) -- a bi-monthly political magazine published by the Chinese Communist Party -- Xi had issued orders to curb the spread of the virus on Jan. 7, which was considered to be the early stage of the outbreak.

He then said that he issued further instructions on Jan. 20, urging all government officials to place importance on containing the virus, and to “put the people’s safety and health” as the number one priority.

Meeting on Jan. 7 not previously revealed

Xi had previously publicly addressed the issue for the first time on Jan. 20 in a directive that called for officials to contain the spread of the virus.

However, an official account of the Standing Committee meeting on Jan. 7 had not mentioned the Covid-19 outbreak.

The published speech was the first time that Xi acknowledged he knew of the viral outbreak and was involved in efforts to manage it days before he spoke publicly about it.

The timeline suggested that even after the central government got wind of the viral outbreak, and was concerned enough to convene a meeting of the highest political body in the country, they had not revealed the information to the public.

Residents took part in mass gathering in Wuhan on Jan. 18

Local officials had not warned residents of the viral outbreak as well, given that a world record potluck banquet for 40,000 families was allowed to go ahead on Jan. 18 in Wuhan, the city where the virus originated.

Other cities in the Hubei province let similar events go ahead as well.

China knew of viral outbreak as early as Jan. 3

Previously, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said at a presser on Feb. 3 that China has conveyed to the United States information on the viral outbreak at least 30 times since Jan. 3.

While the revelation was intended to highlight China's accountability and tight cooperation with the international community in dealing with the public health crisis, it suggested that the Chinese government led by Xi had known of the Covid-19 even earlier than previously thought.

Why the timeline & why publish the speech now?

The published speech might be an attempt by the Communist Party to push back against criticisms that Xi had not taken sufficient measures to curb the spread of the virus in the initial stages after it was first discovered in December 2019.

It might also be to allay criticism after Xi largely withdrew from the public as the outbreak became worse.

Jude Blanchette of Washington-based think tank CSIS told Time that Xi was "trying to allay concerns that Beijing did not glimpse the full scale of the epidemic".

But he has now "raised more questions than he's answered", he added.

So far, public anger has mostly been directed towards local authorities for what was seen as their failure to inform the residents about the viral outbreak in its initial stages when it was less severe, and for the persecution of doctor Li Wenliang when he tried to warn others of the virus after he discovered it.

Is the central government partially responsible too?

The central government has also recently replaced top officials in Hubei, in an attempt that could be seen as taking action against local officials for their mistakes, while making it seem as if the inadequate response has more to do with the local governments, rather than Beijing.

Wuhan mayor Zhou Xianwang revealed in an interview with state broadcaster CCTV that while they had failed to disclose relevant information in a timely manner, they hoped the public could understand that as a local government, they could only disclose information after being authorised.

His words suggested the central government was responsible for the botched response as well.

He later offered to resign.

China says it has been transparent from the start

China has maintained that its efforts in curbing the spread of the Covid-19 had been exemplary, often bringing up the World Health Organisation's constant defence of its response to the outbreak against critics.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi recently said in a Reuters interview that the Chinese government had been responsible in managing the crisis, saying that it has acted in “an open and transparent manner” from the start by releasing relevant information to the world and seeking international cooperation to prevent the spread of the outbreak.

The country has also stressed that the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases outside Hubei has been dropping every single day for the past 13 consecutive days.

Top image via Xinhua