WHO hits China over inaccurate COVID-19 data, doubts it's narrow definition of Covid death

After several calls for reliable COVID-19 data by China, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has now become even more vocal about asking for the country's data access, as it currently reels under the grip of massive COVID-19 surge due to the relaxation of disease control last month, as per reported by CNN.

WHO has accused China of hiding the severity of the COVID-19 surge and "under-representing" the data. The global agency has also criticised the country for its "narrow" definition of what it terms a COVID-19 death, as it has been asking Beijing for authentic data on the surge in China.

'We continue to ask China for more COVID-19 data,' says WHO director-general

"We continue to ask China for more rapid, regular, reliable data on hospitalisations and deaths, as well as more comprehensive, real-time viral sequencing," said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus while speaking to the media in Geneva on Wednesday. 

He added, "WHO is concerned about the risk to life in China and has reiterated the importance of vaccination, including booster doses, to protect against hospitalisation, severe disease, and death."

In an attempt to convey the message to China, WHO executive director for health emergencies Mike Ryan said the numbers revealed by China "under-represent the true impact of the disease" in terms of hospitals, urgent admissions, and also the deaths, reported CNN.

He also said that there have been few countries that have not revealed the exact hospital data but targeted China for its 'narrow' definition of a COVID-19 death.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expresses concern over XBB.1.5 variant

In an address, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed concern over the spread of the XBB.1.5 variant of COVID-19 and said, "One of the Omicron subvariants originally detected in October 2022 is XBB.1.5, a recombinant of BA2 sublineages. It's on the increase in Europe and the U.S. and has now been identified in more than 25 countries. WHO is following closely and assessing the risk of this subvariant and will report accordingly."