There is new evidence to show that China locked down all domestic traffic internally by end January 2020 but pushed to open foreign travel till end March. Data from Tom Tom traffic index, a traffic location site that covers 416 cities across 57 countries show that as a result of this strategy, China, intentionally or otherwise, was able to lockdown its cities unknown to the world. While this reduced the spread of the Corona virus within China, China’s aggressive foreign travel policy lead to a virus explosion worldwide. Here is the chronological events of what happened with the requisite traffic data from 10 major cities globally and the statements from Chinese leaders that will help readers reach their own conclusions.

Beijing & Shanghai were isolated by Jan, domestic flights curtailed

The COVID- 19 virus first surfaced in Wuhan in the last week of December. On 31 December 2019 Chinese health officials first reported to WHO that 41 patients in Wuhan had contracted a mysterious pneumonia that was not responding to conventional treatment. As most patients were from the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market it was closed on the 1st of January. On the 7th of January Chinese scientists identified the virus as a novel Coronavirus later termed as the COVID-19 virus. On the 11th of January the virus claimed its first life in Wuhan city. On 13th January Thailand reported the first case of Coronavirus outside China. On 20th of January Zong Nanshan the scientist named by China to lead the battle against the virus stated ” Now we can say that it is certain that it is a human to human transmission phenomenon”.

On January 22 at a meeting to decide the measures to be taken, WHO was not able warn the world of the severity of COVID-19 apparently because of resistance from Beijing. (WHO referred to it as “divergent views”) On January 23 Wuhan city was placed under quarantine and two days later the entire Hubei province was locked down. The Chinese state machinery was harnessed to enforce an unprecedented quarantine on 50 million people across 15 cities. In the last week of January domestic flights from Hubei to other parts of China was stopped and restrictions on traffic movement in major cities like Beijing and Shanghai were initiated. This was the time of the Chinese New Year when offices and schools are normally closed and it is also the prime tourism season for the Chinese. On the 31st January Italy fearing a major outbreak of Coronavirus from hundreds of tourists arriving from China closed all flights to and from China.

China’s traffic density below 10% in Feb, but criticises global traffic curbs

China’s vice-minister of foreign affairs Qin Gang met Italy’s ambassador to China Luca Ferrari in Beijing following the flight ban. “Italy’s decision to stop flights without contacting China in advance caused great inconvenience to citizens of both countries. Many Chinese are still stranded in Italy,” the foreign ministry said on its website the following day. The U.S. issued a travel advisory against China travel on the 2nd of February but did not ban all services. While Chinese authorities limited domestic flights from Wuhan to other Chinese cities like Beijing and Shanghai in an effort to contain the outbreak in January, it urged international carriers to maintain their flying schedules. The Civil Aviation Administration of China stated “In order to meet the needs of passengers in and out of the country and the international transport of supplies during this special period … airlines [are required to] … continue transport to nations that have not imposed travel restrictions.”

China’s assertion that all was well for international travel was supported by the WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at the opening of the agency’s Executive Board meet on the 3rd February. He said ” There is no reason for measures that unnecessarily interfere with international travel and trade. We call on all countries to implement decisions that are evidence-based and consistent. WHO stands ready to provide advice to any country that is considering which measures to take,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying criticised the US advisories saying “The U.S. government hasn’t provided any substantial assistance to us, but it was the first to evacuate personnel from its consulate in Wuhan, the first to suggest partial withdrawal of its embassy staff, and the first to impose a comprehensive travel ban on Chinese travellers”

While China continued to protest against international travel bans it successfully quarantined Wuhan and other affected cities. The total domestic lockdown of Hubei province and the flight ban imposed inside China had immediate effect. As per data from Tom Tom traffic index Wuhan had a traffic density of 60% in January while Shanghai and Beijing had nearly 80% density. After the total lockdown the average traffic density fell to below 10% in Wuhan and Shanghai during February and below 5% in Beijing. While implementing a total domestic lockdown in February, China kept assuring the world that the situation was not serious and fully under control.

WHO declares global pandemic belatedly in March, nations unprepared

China kept on the facade of hiding the severity of the virus attack till mid March. On the 11th of March WHO belatedly declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. By that time the number of cases globally had grown thirteen fold. As per WHO website more than 118,000 cases had been reported in 114 countries, and 4,291 people had lost their lives when the global pandemic was declared. That is when the rest of the world started preparing for a suitable response to the pandemic, nearly two months after China.

It was only after a telephonic conversation with US President Donald Trump on March 27th that Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to curb international flights from China. China’s Civil Aviation Administration stated after the discussion “that 90% of international flights would be temporarily suspended. The number of incoming passengers would be cut to 5,000 a day, from 25,000. China has also ordered local airlines to maintain only one route per country, once a week, as of 29th March”. By the end of March COVID-19 had become a full blown global crisis with nearly 10,000 deaths in Italy, Spain and the US and over 5000 in Iran and the UK which was much more than those dead in China.

As per data from Tom Tom traffic index the traffic density in Wuhan remained low at around 10% of the normal traffic in March while the major business centres like Beijing and Shanghai which had less than a few thousand cases of COVID-19 and half a dozen deaths showed partial recovery of traffic to around 40%. The rest of the world oblivious of the need for total lockdown took time to react. The traffic remained high at over 60% in major cities like Rome, Milan, Madrid, Paris, London, New York, New Delhi and Mumbai during March.

Australia calls for investigation, China and WHO must be made accountable

The Tom Tom traffic data index shows that in all other global cities like Rome, Milan, Madrid, Paris, London, New York, New Delhi and Mumbai the traffic density dropped to 10% only in the month of April when most nations went under lockdown. This was a clear two months after China went in for a domestic lock down and allowed the virus to proliferate to international destinations through human contact. The traffic density in Beijing and Shanghai rose to over 60% in April showing that the Chinese cities and its economy was back to normal functioning.

While China limited its losses to below 5000 by end April 2020, the US had lost 60,000 lives, Italy, Spain, France and UK above 20,000 each and the world saw over 200,000 deaths that was nearly doubling every fortnight. So though the virus had originated from China which initially infected citizens from 27 nations, because of China’s diabolic international travel policy it spread rapidly to a totally unprepared Europe, mainly Italy and Spain and thereafter to the rest of the world becoming a global pandemic. So weather the virus was produced in the Wuhan Virology Institute as an exercise of bio-terrorism or simply arrived unintentionally due to bat and pangolin infected blood from its exotic animal markets in Wuhan, China is answerable for the way it allowed the virus to spread.

Australia has called for an international investigation into the spread of COVID-19 and all nations of the world including India must back the move. Also it has been suggested that the leadership and the action of WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus needs to be probed. All nations including India need to support such an investigation for it is better to be safe than sorry.