WHO criticizes China for insufficient data on the epidemic

by

Beijing has reported 18,000 new cases and 648 deaths since January 1

The World Health Organization yesterday criticized the way Chinese authorities define covid-19 deaths, pointing out that data published by Beijing does not provide an accurate picture of the situation in the countrywhere an outbreak of the disease is observed.

In its weekly report, the Health Organization points out that Beijing has announced since January 1, 2023, 208,018 new covid cases and 648 deaths.

At the same time, WHO reiterated its support yesterday in the decision of many countries to require a negative covid test from travelers coming from China. At the same time, EU member states reached an agreement under which the bloc’s 27 countries are “actively encouraged” to ask all travelers coming from China to present a negative covid test, no more than 48 hours before departure .

“The current numbers published by China they do not represent the true effects of the disease in terms of hospitalizations, admissions to intensive care units and especially in terms of deaths,” Michael Ryan, WHO’s head of health crisis management, said during a press conference.

China is facing a surge in coronavirus cases after abruptly abandoning its “zero covid” policy in early December. But the authorities report very few deaths from the disease, after they changed their methodology: now only those who die due to respiratory failure due to covid are recorded as covid deaths.

“That definition is too narrow,” Ryan stressed.

“We continue to ask China for faster, more regular and more reliable data on hospitalizations and deaths, as well as more comprehensive and real-time sequencing of the virus,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at the same press conference.

Noting that the WHO is “concerned” about the situation in China, Tedros stressed the importance of vaccination.

At the same time, the health organization reiterated its support for the measures recently taken by some countries for travelers from China.

“With such an increased circulation (of the coronavirus) in China and the absence of comprehensive data (…) it is completely understandable that some countries are taking restrictive measures,” he noted.

Test

The US, whose authorities are now demanding a negative covid test from most travelers from China, welcomed the WHO’s role and underlined that the measures taken were linked to a lack of transparency on the part of Beijing.

Besides, American President Joe Biden yesterday expressed his concern about the way Beijing is managing the outbreak of covid. “They are very sensitive (…) when we say that they have not been so honest,” he told reporters.

Beijing on Tuesday condemned the decision by countries to impose tests on travelers from China, calling the measure “unacceptable” and threatening “countermeasures”.

“We are taking the measures we consider justified, depending on the development of the situation in China, which are based on the discussions between our experts,” replied a representative of the European Commission yesterday.

In the meantime, the coronavirus is causing concern to the WHO, “with more than 13 million cases reported in the past month”, noting that this is a lower number than the real one.

“But the most worrying thing is that we had a 15% increase in deaths in the last month,” said Maria van Kerkov, head of the WHO technical team on covid.

The WHO is mainly monitoring the XBB.1.5 substrain of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, which has been detected in 29 countries so far, mainly in Europe and the US. “It is the most contagious substrain that has been observed so far,” emphasized Van Kerkow.

RES-EMP

You May Also Like

Recommended for you