SPECIAL REPORT: How China covered up the coronavirus crisis

The Chinese Communist Party’s brutal crackdown on critics during the early days of the coronavirus outbreak led to hundreds of people being taken from their families and held in secret detention indefinitely.

This Sky News Australia special investigation talks to the families of these victims, including the brother of Chinese journalist Chen Men, who was taken by his government for the crime of reporting on the coronavirus.

His website was shut down after authorities caught wind of his warnings and he was jailed on April 19. Mr Chen’s family say he has disappeared entirely without a trial and fear the man they love is being tortured by the communist regime in an unknown location. Their story is eerily and tragically similar to that of hundreds of brave people who raised concerns online and have since vanished.

Human rights groups fear that number may be as high as 800 and there are concerns that many of the victims will never be reunited with their families.

This special report investigates these stories and probes other questions which will help shed light on the origins of COVID-19.