Life

TV review: 54 Days explores the China/US friction over coronavirus

Billy Foley

Billy Foley

Billy has almost 30 years’ experience in journalism after leaving DCU with a BAJ. He has worked at the Irish Independent, Evening Herald and Sunday Independent in Dublin, the Cork-based Evening Echo and the New Zealand Herald. He joined the Irish News in 2000, working as a reporter and then Deputy News Editor. He has been News Editor since 2007

The shopping area of Wuhan being disinfected in February, 2020 (Cheng Min/Xinhua via AP).
The shopping area of Wuhan being disinfected in February, 2020 (Cheng Min/Xinhua via AP). The shopping area of Wuhan being disinfected in February, 2020 (Cheng Min/Xinhua via AP).

54 Days: China and the Pandemic, BBC 2, Tuesday

A team of scientists from the World Health Organisation is in China today one year after the emergence of Covid-19.

Their mission: to determine where the coronavirus came from and how it was transferred into humans.

It’s a scientific endeavour on behalf of humankind but it is also deeply political as it falls squarely into the battle for supremacy between the world’s two great powers – China and the US.

Undoubtedly China has been less than transparent about the origins of the virus and stands accused of failing to share information in the early months which might have helped the international community prevent its worldwide spread and the deaths of two million people.

The WHO finds itself in the middle of this battle, assailed from all sides. The previous US administration accused it of acquiescing to the Chinese and excluding Taiwan, a leader in virus prevention.

China has stalled on allowing WHO scientists into the country and stopped two of a 15 person team at the border earlier this month.

But not unreasonably, the WHO says it is seeking to work with all global partners and while there may be internal frustration with China it has wisely kept its counsel publicly.

54 Days: China and the Pandemic is the first of a major two-part investigation looking at the coronavirus timeline.

In exhaustive detail, and with access to a series of the significant players, it sets out the difference between what the Chinese appeared to know in the latter days of 2019 and January 2020 and what information was made available to its own citizens and the rest of the word.

It took 54 days from the believed first case until January 20, 2020 when China officially confirmed human to human transmission of a novel coronavirus, which looked similar to the SARS outbreak of 2003.

China had reacted strongly to SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), setting up a new Centre for Disease Control, but something went wrong when Covid-19 arrived and it is unclear yet if it was science or the auto response of an autocratic government.

This documentary didn’t provide the answers to that but gave us more details on some of the clues: The prosecution and death of whistleblower Li Wenliang, the censuring of journalists and the questionable announcements of officials.

Today the official Chinese death toll is less than 5,000 people, but there is an acceptance in the rest of the world that this is a significant under-reporting.

China maintains it did the right thing and suggests other governments are seeking to make it a scapegoat for their own failures.

“Certain countries ignored (our) information and now blame China for their own failures,” a spokesman told the documentary.

Certain countries clearly refers to the US and its own questionable response to the pandemic.

Part two next week is titled: “America and the Pandemic.”

****

Incredible Journeys with Simon Reeve, BBC 2, Sunday

You can’t disagree with Simon Reeve when he says, “Now that travel has become a bit tricky it’s not a bad time to have a look back.”

Confined to their couches like the rest of us, TV travel presenters are making their greatest hits collections.

Michael Palin brought us the very enjoyable Travels of a Lifetime in October, now Reeve is presenting his six-episode highlights reel.

It seems a little early for a look back at his career (Reeve is only in his late 40s), but he’s been at the TV travel game for 15 years.

A bit more political that Palin, Reeve is nonetheless an excellent and knowledgeable companion to travel the world with.