China knew about COVID-19's ability to spread from human-to-human six days before a warning was revealed to the rest of the world, The Associated Press reports citing leaked documents.
The COVID-19 death toll in China is at more than 3300 - 3222 of which were in Hubei province where the virus originated.
Seen by AP, internal Government documents show there was a delay between January 14 and 20 to alert the rest of the world about a potential pandemic. During that time, 3000 new infections were reported as millions travelled through virus epicentre Wuhan for Chinese New Year celebrations.
"The epidemic situation is still severe and complex, the most severe challenge since SARS in 2003, and is likely to develop into a major public health event," said the memo from Ma Xiaowei, China's National Health Commission head.
He said there was a high risk of spread and transmission, AP reports, adding authorities "must prepare for and respond to a pandemic".
"Those accusing China of lacking transparency and openness are unfair," Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for China's foreign ministry, told the news agency in response to the report.
On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump announced it would no longer fund the World Health Organisation, accusing it of mishandling the pandemic.
The WHO was heavily criticised for a Twitter post in January saying there was no proof of human-to-human transmission "based on preliminary investigations from Chinese authorities".
Recently, Trump condemned the WHO for praising China's transparency.
Scott Brown, the US' ambassador to New Zealand, on Wednesday criticised China's initial response to the virus saying it limited how quickly other countries could respond.
Brown told The AM Show actions could have been implemented quicker to limit the virus' spread in the US if China had been more upfront with was known.
