China Placed Massive Order For PCR Tests Months Before First Official COVID Case

• China Placed Massive Order For PCR Tests Months Before First Official COVID Case
  by Tyler Durden, https://www.zerohedge.com/
  Months before the first official reports of a novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China, officials in Hubei Province placed a massive order for PCR tests, according to Nikkei, citing a report from researchers – including former intelligence officers – in the U.S., the U.K. and Australia.
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  Records from a website aggregating public sector procurement contracts reveal that approximately 67.4 million yuan (US$10.5 million at current rates) was spent on the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests starting in May 2019 – nearly double the 2018 total.
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  “Monthly procurement data shows a spike in orders in May, especially from CDC buyers and the People’s Liberation Army,” according to the report.
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  The report casts further doubt on China’s official line about the origins of the virus, a topic that has fueled tensions between Beijing and Washington.
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  PCR, or polymerase chain reaction, tests are used to detect the presence of a particular genetic sequence in a sample, and they have applications beyond COVID-19 testing. But the report alleges the unusual uptick likely signals awareness of a new disease spreading in the Wuhan area.
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  Orders doubled from universities, jumped fivefold from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and surged tenfold from animal testing bureaus. Purchases from hospitals declined by more than 10%. -Nikkei
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  “We believe the increased spending in May suggests this as the earliest start date for possible infection,” the report concludes. Purchases also soared between July and October as well – especially from the Wuhan University of Science and Technology, which spent 8.92 million yuan in 2019, an eight-fold increase over 2018.
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