The revelation has emerged in a new book by Sir Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust. After nothing appeared within 24 hours, the professor emailed Sir Jeremy. 'If there was a novel contagious disease that could spread asymptomatically between people, the world needed to know immediately,' said Sir Jeremy. Sir Jeremy emailed and messaged Richard Horton, The Lancet's editor-in-chief, but got no reply. On January 14, 2020, the day after the first case emerged abroad, a leaked memo from a Chinese health official admitted 'human-to-human transmission is possible', and warned of 'a major public health event'.

Source: Daily Mail July 24, 2021 21:00 UTC