President Donald Trump declared a national emergency Friday in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
To date COVID-19 has reached over 100 countries, infected more than 140,000 people and killed 5,000.
The virus is believed to have originated in Wuhan, China. Nearly 81,000 people in China have contracted COVID-19 and over 3,000 people have died.
The topic is being widely covered, and while many government officials are telling people to be cautious but not panic, media coverage of the virus is starkly different in China than the coverage in the United States and Europe. (RELATED: Congress Pushing To Get An Additional Coronavirus Bill Passed Before Recess)
The Chinese government-sponsored channel, China Global Television Network (CGTN), has been releasing videos that are lighthearted and almost cheerful. Some the videos are being released as social media style videos, filmed on a phone by a young Chinese woman sitting in her apartment addressing how successfully the Chinese government has handled the situation.
Other videos show empty streets and markets while the reporter on camera addresses how it’s business as usual.
The scientigfic community does seem convinced that China’s efforts are working, and the coronavirus does appear to be slowing down drastically there.
But these videos are obvious efforts by the government to give the appearance of citizen contentment, even with mandatory quarantines that have affected 46 million people.
China has made great efforts to aggressively censor its citizens during the coronavirus outbreak, going so far as to reportedly offer financial incentives to informants who tell on those attempting to break out of their quarantine.
Take a look at some of the media coverage the Chinese government has released in recent days.