China Defends Its Corona Virus Response.

China denies that it concealed the early spread of the virus.

The Chinese government on Sunday strongly defended its handling of the coronavirus, pushing back at criticism that officials had suppressed early reports of the outbreak and contending instead that China had set a strong example for how to combat it.

A top Chinese official said at a news conference in Beijing that the government and state news media had provided early, timely and extensive information since the first cases appeared in Hubei Province late last year. In an apparent reference to the Trump administration’s numerous assertions that China is to blame for the subsequent pandemic, he complained bitterly about what he described as foreign lies and slanders.

“Those are completely unwarranted and unreasonable,” said the official, Xu Lin, who oversees the State Council Information Office. On Sunday the agency published a detailed report on China’s epidemic response.

Ma Xiaowei, the minister in charge of the National Health Commission, also said that China had “not delayed in any way” the release of information about the disease.