A day after claiming that China is not showing in numbers the real impact of the new Covid-19 outbreaks in its territory, the World Health Organization (WHO) received new reports from the Asian country. The data support the thesis that there may be underreporting of the effects of the Chinese health crisis, especially in the number of deaths, and point to an almost 50% increase in the rate of hospitalizations due to the coronavirus.
Based on information provided by Beijing, the WHO recorded 218,000 new cases and 648 deaths in the week ended January 1. In the same period, Chinese authorities officially confirmed only nine deaths.
The reason for such a discrepancy (variation of 7,100%) is not clear, but some factors may explain it. One of them is that the definition of deaths from Covid in China is different from that of other countries – and the director of emergencies hit that key on Wednesday (3) by stating that it is a “very strict definition”. Another factor also has geopolitical weight; the WHO includes in the data not only mainland China, but Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan — an island that seeks independence but is considered by Beijing to be a rebel province.
The most recent report points to a total of 22,416 hospitalizations due to Covid in the same week, which represents an increase of 47.85% compared to the 15,161 hospitalizations in the immediately previous period, although still below the historical peak of almost 29 thousand registered in early December. .
Beijing stopped reporting to the WHO after it lifted its Covid-zero policy in early December. Domestically, two of the country’s main health bodies, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Health Commission (NHC) had announced that they would no longer release daily reports on cases and deaths from Covid under the allegation that the end of the more restrictive measures in practice made a more detailed follow-up impossible.
The data blackout, added to the Xi Jinping regime’s history of strict control over the circulation of information, ignited warnings about underreporting of the effects of the Chinese crisis amid reports of overcrowded hospitals, doctors forced to work even when infected and a high not fully explained in the demand for funeral services.
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