The Coronavirus pandemic has led to shutdowns across the world, especially in the U.S. and Canada as numbers continue to spike. Wuhan, the center of the pandemic, recently lifted the ban after 72 days but as COVID-19 continued to impact the world economically, a group of small businesses in the U.S. is taking the People’s Republic of China to court on claims they tried to cover up the severity of the illness.

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A group of small businesses in California that includes Cardiff Prestige Property, Little Saigon Chamber of Commerce, First Premier X and others have filed an $8 trillion lawsuit against the People’s Republic of China, the City of Wuhan, and China’s Health Commission. In documents obtained by TMZ, the group of businesses accuses the Chinese government of trying to cover up the pandemic. They said that the government in China knew about this “new” disease but didn’t say anything and attempted to cover it up.

In addition, they accuse the city of Wuhan of having a bio-weapons laboratory near the city that might be behind the infected bat that ended up in the wet market. Essentially, the group of businesses is accusing China of failing to uphold its duty to inform WHO of the possible pandemic before February. 

As non-essential businesses have closed because of the pandemic, the group is demanding $8 trillion in damages for the forced closures and losses.