China hides data on morbidity and mortality from COVID
2023.01.04 12:13
China hides data on morbidity and mortality from COVID
Budrigannews.com – A senior WHO official stated on Wednesday that China’s COVID-19 data do not accurately reflect the situation there and underrepresent the number of hospitalizations and deaths caused by the disease.
Concerns are growing about the virus’s rapid spread in China, the world’s No. 1 nation, and the U.N. agency was getting ready to meet with Chinese scientists once more on Thursday as part of a larger briefing for member states on the global COVID-19 situation. 2 business.
China’s top scientists presented data on Tuesday to a WHO technical advisory group indicating that the nation of 1.4 billion people had not discovered any new coronavirus variants.
Since Beijing abruptly reversed its “zero COVID” policy last month, that may allay some concerns regarding the outbreak.
However, WHO officials’ remarks on Wednesday were the most explicit criticism of China’s recent pandemic management yet. It made people worry about how accurate and accessible Beijing’s data are, which made it harder to fight the disease that has killed over 6.7 million people and thrown off global economies.
According to WHO emergencies director Mike Ryan, “We believe the current numbers being published from China underrepresent the true impact of the disease in terms of hospital admissions, in particular in terms of death.”
He stated at a Geneva briefing that the World Health Organization considers the Chinese government’s definition of death to be “too narrow.”
“We actually don’t have total information,” said Ryan.
The world’s most populous nation narrowed its definition of COVID-related deaths late last month, counting only pneumonia or respiratory failure caused by the virus. This raised questions among experts in global health.
The WHO says passings ought to be credited to Coronavirus in the event that they result from a “clinically viable sickness” in a patient with a plausible or affirmed contamination, and no other irrelevant reason for death – like injury – is involved.
China has detailed five or less passings daily since the approach U-turn. However, many Chinese hospitals and funeral homes claim to be overwhelmed, and international health experts anticipate at least one million COVID-related deaths in China this year if nothing is done immediately.
Abdi Rahman Mahamud, director of the WHO’s alert and response coordination department, issued a warning that there may be a second wave of infections as families gather in China for the Lunar New Year holiday, which is one of the busiest travel times for the country.
He suggested that people wear masks to avoid infection and that vaccination rates should rise.
However, in regards to predictions of a large number of deaths, the WHO stated that “no inevitability” exists.
“It really does depend on the measures that are in place,” declared Maria van Kerkhove, WHO COVID-19 technical lead.
She stated that the WHO and China were collaborating to address workforce issues and improve access to life-saving tools in hard-hit areas.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, reiterated earlier in the briefing that the organization is “concerned” about the rise in COVID-19 infections in China. He also urged Beijing once more to provide Beijing with real-time viral sequencing and rapid and regular data on hospitalization and death there.
“WHO is worried about the endanger to life in China and has repeated the significance of immunization, including supporter dosages to safeguard against hospitalization, serious sickness and demise,” Tedros said.
He said that given the high viral spread in China and the lack of comprehensive data, it makes sense that some countries are testing travelers who arrive from China to protect their own citizens.
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