This article was originally published by Radio Free Asia and is reprinted with permission. Information about the novel coronavirus (nCoV) and how it has spread in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) is a “state secret” and cannot be shared with the public, according to a government employee in the region’s capital Urumqi. On Jan. 23, Chinese state media cited local health authorities in the XUAR as saying that a 47-year-old man identified by the surname Li and a 52-year-old man identified as Gu had been confirmed infected by nCoV. Both had been to Hubei’s capital Wuhan, where the virus is believed to have been first transmitted to humans. As of Sunday, at least 24 people had been confirmed infected in the XUAR while 1,254 had been placed under medical observation, with six in serious condition and two in critical condition, according to state media. A report by the official Tianshan.net website said that China Southern Airlines had sent 400,000 masks and 40,000
Source: Information concerning coronavirus spread in Xinjiang is ‘state secret’: official