In an effort to change and contain the narrative, two Chinese websites have published and then deleted research that highlighted the true origins of the deadly COVID-19 virus.

The Chinese government had tightened its grip on academic research. China’s new policy dictates that all papers on the subject of the COVID-19 virus require approval before its publication. This places extreme restrictions and curtails vital information about the virus. In the now-deleted posts, two studies from leading Chinese universities, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), and the Fudan University have been subjected under heavy censorship.

According to a report from the Guardian, all of the online caches were deleted as a measure to control the virus’ origins. First, Fudan University’s School of Information Science and Technology in Shanghai study was deleted after it was published on April 9. The same thing happened with the China University of Geosciences, citing that it needed the central government’s go signal before it can be posted online.

China’s Science and Technology Ministry referred to a publication that their leader, President Xi Jinping, wrote in March.

In the said article, the Chinese leader declared that “tracing the origin of the virus” should be a matter of national priority. Then, on April 3, the government changed its plans and announced a new policy, mandating all scientific researchers to immediately report their findings to government officials within three days or risk termination.

In an interview with the Guardian, Kevin Carrico, a research fellow of Chinese studies at Monash University, implied that Communist China’s desire to control the narrative might have deadly and devastating consequences. “They are seeking to transform it from a massive disaster to one where the government did everything right and gave the rest of the world time to prepare,” Carrico said. The researcher also said that the Chinese government should have learned from the aftermath of the SARS outbreak. “There is a desire to a degree to deny realities that are staring at us in the face … that this is a massive pandemic that originated in a place that the Chinese government really should have cleaned up after SARS,” he added.

While Taiwan had warned the World Health Organization, about the looming threat of the virus back in December of 2019, the Chinese government only reported the “mysterious pneumonia outbreak,” to WHO on New Year’s eve. According to initial reports, the mysterious illness had already spread in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province- and home to 11 million residents.

China’s decision must have come from increasing pressure from the international community over its failure to effectively mitigate and even curtail crucial information. Even United States President, Donald Trump hinted that China might not reveal the real number of fatalities, as well as the true extent of the virus. The US had also pushed China to send samples of the virus, as well as to allow American epidemiologists to assist and survey the impact of the virus.

Globally, 1.8 million people have been affected by the virus and had claimed more than 114,000 lives.