A day after sending a commission of experts to China to discuss the health crisis, the World Health Organization (WHO) said this Wednesday (4) that the data from the Asian country do not show any new variants of the coronavirus, but indicate that the Xi Jinping regime failed to report the real effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, in particular the number of deaths.
“Current numbers published by China underrepresent the real impact of the disease in terms of hospital admissions, ICU admissions and particularly in terms of deaths,” said Mike Ryan, director of emergencies at the entity.
WHO had access to data provided by the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), according to which the dominant variants in the explosion of cases that followed the end of the Covid-zero policy are BA.5.2 and BF strains. 7. As these strains are already known to scientists, confirmation by the WHO reassures, at least for the time being, fears that the high circulation of the virus among the Chinese could be the incubator for a new variant.
The transparency of official data from China, however, is still a factor of attention. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the organization is concerned about the risk to life in China and will continue to seek “faster, regular and more reliable” reports on hospitalizations and deaths from Covid in the country.
“With the circulation [do vírus] in China so high and comprehensive data not available, it is understandable that some countries are taking measures that they believe will protect their own citizens”, said the Ethiopian in reference to the restrictions imposed on Chinese travelers – which Beijing considers irrational, the result of political manipulation and without foundation scientific.
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