It's Thursday, April nine. I'm Oscar Ramirez from the Daily Dive podcast in Los Angeles, and this is your daily coronavirus update. The US is eyeing a second coronavirus outbreak in China. In the past few days, officials have noted an emergence of new cases, particularly in asymptomatic and presymptomatic individuals. The administration is closely monitoring how China handles this next wave to better understand what we could expect later this year,
when we too could possibly see a second outbreak. Aaron Banko, national security reporter at The Daily Beast, joins us for how we're keeping an eye on China. Thanks for joinings, Saren. You know, since this whole outbreak began, all eyes have been on China. That is where the outbreak first began in Wuhan, China. We've been looking at them for numbers
as far as confirmed cases and death toll. We've been looking at them as far as how they reacted to all this, what they did, how they shut Wuhan down. And the eyes continue there because they're the first ones that went through this and right now the Trump administration is looking at them to see if a second coronavirus outbreak could be coming, and this one is centering more
around people that are asymptomatic. They're fearing that arise in asymptomatic cases could trigger a second outbreak very soon or maybe later in the year. Aaron tell us a little bit about this. So at the end of the day, from the officials we've been speaking to, it is still all not clear to this day the exact amount of people in China who have contracted the coronavirus, and we're
still not sure how many people have done. Basically, what officials in the US are telling us is we can't really trust the data that's coming out of China at this moment in time. So this sort of serves up all kinds of issues and problems through the Trump administration when they're trying to learn not only about how the first outbreak happened and how China handled that initial sort of round of patients and yes, but also what it
means going forward. What we've seen in China is small pool of people test positive for the coronavirus recently within the past week, and these individuals are many of them asymptomatic or pre symptomatic, and this is the sort of first indication that we're getting that there's this second wave of coronavirus cases that China may be experiencing over the
next couple of weeks. And what the Trumpet administration is really trying to do is figure out how this new outbreak started and really get on the ground intel on exactly how many people have tested positive over the past few days and how the Chinese government is handling this all. Yeah, and the concerns are there. We ourselves in the United States could possibly expect another round later this year. That's why Dr Anthony Fauci said this could be a seasonal thing.
It can maybe taper off in the summer months and then come back again when cold and flu season starts all over again. Whether it's a mutated version of COVID nineteen or the same exact thing, it could still have its re emergence. And there's always been this thing about people that are asymptomatic or pre symptomatic. That's the trickiest part. People can be shedding the virus and other people can get affected and not know it because the others aren't
showing those symptoms. So what's happening is the trump administration is leaning on the State Department for a lot of this stuff to keep an eye out for the second wave. The Trump administration is looking at a couple of different agencies to try to gather as much information as possible on the ground from the Chinese settlement about this new
small outbreak. But the State Department has really been leaving the effort and not only trying to figure out from the consulate and embassies and representatives on the ground in China just how many people have contracted the virus over the last week, but also how the Chinese government may
or may not be spinning that kind of information. You know, we've had problems trying to reliable data out of China for quite some time now on the coronavirus, and so they're kind of really get ahead of the game on this second wave and trying to dispel any sort of inaccurate information or talking point set up here in news reports or elsewhere, and trying to sort of camper down on that and track it all and make sure that the US has a very clear understanding of what the
actual data is, yes, but also how it's being distorted, if at all. And so the State Department is really relying on its partners across the world to help them, and of course officials who are working in the department across the world as well. It was really a team effort within the State Department. Now we also know that officials in the intelligence community are taking a really close
look at this. But it's like you said, it's very important for the US scientists and academics to really try to understand what led to this second wave in China and how to mitigate that here in the United States as the months before, the last thing the US wants to do is to put out guidance that says, all right, we're all good, everybody go back to work, and then we see this new second wave sooner than maybe we
would have anticipated in first place. So I think it's really trying to understand how to aid our own policies and guidance around the coronaveries based off of very limited data that we're getting out of China. And China just lifted the lockdown on Wuhan, so obviously people are going to be paying attention specifically there to see how they get back to normal business and everyday operating business, and obviously to see what we can translate that over back
to us. The other thing that's happening as well with China is that some of the equipment that we're getting from there, and other countries have been getting there, there's been reports of faulty equipment, I think things in Spain and the Netherlands. Britain was one of the latest countries to complain about these antibody test kits and other equipment
that they were getting, saying that they were faulty. The FDA has approved the use of K and N masks were started like the N nine MASS, but these are ones that are approved by China standards. So that's just another concern is some of the equipment that we're getting
from there as well. So what we know as the State Department is actually tracking some of those deliveries that have been flagged as faulty or not functioning incorrectly until What we know from some of the State Department cables that I reviewed is that China is pushing a new program whereby they will be delivering more and more supplies increasingly so, but they put sort of new standards in place to ensure that on their end the devices are
working before they export them to other countries, and I will just say about the point on Wuhan. Yes, they have lifted the lockdown sort of orders and guidance, but what we do know is that local officials and Luhan are also considering testing everybody in the province to make sure that they are not testing positive for the coronavirus. Their real concern right now is asymptomatic or pre symptomatic spread, which is of course what the administration and the US
scientists and academics are worried about here as well. It's hearing as though they're returning back to normal, but I think it's fair to say from the cables and officials be spoken to that China is still very worried about the transmission asymptomatic to asmatic and stematic. Person Aaron Banko, national security reporter at The Daily Beast, thank you very much for joining us. Thanks for having me. I'm Oscar Ramirez and this has been your daily coronavirus update. Don't
forget that. For today's big news stories, you can check me out on the Daily Dive podcast every Monday through Friday, So follow us on I Heart Radio or wherever you get your podcasts.