Inevitably, parallels are being drawn between the Chinese government's handling of the Wuhan virus outbreak and that of Sars, another deadly coronavirus epidemic that began in China and spread to 26 countries 17 years ago.
The first cases of Sars broke out in Guangdong province in November 2002, but the World Health Organisation (WHO) was notified only in February 2003. The severity of the situation was made known only in April, by which time the Sars virus had claimed many victims, in China and overseas.
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