China’s Wuhan Cover Up, FDA Halts Blood Plasma Emergency Approval. Here’s What You Need To Know About Wednesday’s Pandemic Developments

A U.S. government report concludes Chinese officials hid information about the coronavirus, allowing the outbreak to spread into a pandemic. The news comes as Wuhan, China, the origin of the outbreak, reported no new cases for several months.

Separately, the Food and Drug Administration halted an emergency use approval of blood plasma for treating COVID-19 patients.

The government report aligns with President Trump’s stance on China’s deception about the coronavirus, revealing officials in the city of Wuhan and surrounding Hubei Province withheld information from Beijing, the New York Times reported. Local officials are often reluctant to release information for fear of repercussions from Beijing.

The report also detailed the mistakes central China leaders made in January as the coronavirus emerged in Wuhan, which allowed coronavirus to spread around the world.

The report, which was released in June, was compiled from information from the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies, and is in line with Trump’s accusations against China. In a July 4 speech, Trump said: “China’s secrecy, deceptions and cover-up allowed it [coronavirus] to spread all over the world — 189 countries — and China must be held fully accountable.”

The news of the Chinese cover-up comes as Wuhan has gone several months without reporting any positive tests for coronavirus. The area where the virus first started has gotten back a sense of normalcy, with people gathering in large groups again. Large venues like the Wuhan Maya Beach Water Park are reporting as many as 15,000 visitors each day, Hubei Daily, a Communist newspaper said.

The city endured a 76-day lockdown that began in January. Wuhan has not reported a new case of the coronavirus since May, the Washington Post reported.

To slow the spread of the virus, China has implemented heavy surveillance and mandatory contact tracing, the Post said. The city has also dismantled a COVID-19 makeshift hospital. Some 4,634 COVID-19 deaths were recorded in Wuhan, a majority of China’s total COVID-19 deaths count, the Post reported.

China has recorded more than 89,500 positive cases of the coronavirus, with over 4,700 COVID-19 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. In contrast, the U.S. has more than 5.4 million positive coronavirus cases, and more than 172,000 COVID-19 deaths, Johns Hopkins data indicated.

Elsewhere, the FDA put emergency approval of blood plasma to treat COVID-19 patients on hold, the New York Times reported. Top health officials cited weak data as the reason for the hold as testing was done without a placebo group in place.

Dr. Francis S. Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health and Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, said the emerging data was too weak from blood plasma studies, two senior officials told the Times.

The study was conducted by the Mayo Clinic and included 35,000 COVID-19 patients but did not have a placebo control group to compare results. However, the study did show that mortality rates dropped when blood plasma was infused within three days of diagnosis of COVID-19.

In other coronavirus news:

• Hotel foreclosures are on a path to hit “a historic wave of foreclosures,” as the travel industry was decimated by the coronavirus pandemic, the American Hotel & Lodging Association said. The association cited a report by Trepp that showed one in every four hotels backed by a commercial mortgage-backed securities loan is delinquent. Of these hotels, the report indicated 23.4% of loans were 30 or more days delinquent as of July, which the association said was the highest percentage on record, including during the Great Recession.
• Southwest Airlines has declined a $2.8 billion loan from the U.S. government, saying in an SEC filing it has secured other financing. The company made the decision as it saw a “modest improvement” in airline travel in August, but said at the same time, it expects a revenue decline of 70% to 75% compared to August 2019. The company previously estimated a revenue drop of 80% compared to the same time last year.
• Several retailers were big winners when it came to earnings during the pandemic. Target reported an increase of 24.3% for the quarter compared to the same time last year. Target said it was the “strongest” quarter it ever had reported. This follows Walmart’s record earnings report on Tuesday and news that Lowe’s and Home Depot, also deemed essential businesses, reported record earnings for the quarter as consumers shifted spending to the home improvement sector as they stayed home during the pandemic.
• Roche and Regeneron have partnered up to “significantly” increase the global supply of an investigational antibody combination to treat COVID-19. The antibody treatment, REGN-COV2, is Regeneron’s two-antibody combination that is in late-stage clinical trials. Together, the companies will collaborate on developing and manufacturing REGN-COV2 with Regeneron distributing the treatment to the U.S. Roche will be responsible for international distribution. The companies expect the production capacity to increase by at least three and a half times.