WHO says COVID-19 toll figures under-represent 'true risk to life' in China

World Health Organisation on Wednesday said that China's under-represented case toll of COVID-19, statistics registered calculating deaths, hospital admissions, and other data was shielding the true impact of the recent outbreak for an accurate assessment. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, in a statement on Jan 4 said that the global health agency was exceedingly  “concerned about the risk to life in China," warning that COVID-19 related information from Beijing "is not giving an accurate picture of the impact of the coronavirus spread."

WHO still doesn't have China's complete COVID-19 data: Emergencies director

WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan said at a briefing that WHO still does not have China's complete COVID-19 data. "We believe that the current numbers being published from China under-represent the true impact of the disease in terms of hospital admissions, in terms of ICU admissions, and particularly in terms of deaths," he noted at the briefing.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general told the briefing that it was understandable why many countries have now imposed COVID-19-related measures, including the RTPCR testing on passengers from China. He attributed the need to instate such protocols to the lack of information or complete statistics from the Chinese government. "With circulation in China so high and comprehensive data not forthcoming... it is understandable that some countries are taking steps they believe will protect their own citizens," he noted.

Beijing, although, condemned the testing requirements on the Chinese travellers imposed by the United States and other Western nations, threatening a similar measure. China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning registered condemnation of the COVID testing for Chinese passengers on the flights, saying: “We firmly reject using COVID measures for political purposes and will take corresponding measures in response to varying situations via the principle of reciprocity."

China, said WHO, has been calculating the COVID-19 death toll only if those infected suffered respiratory failure or chest distress. WHO criticized the approach, saying, "We do not discourage doctors and nurses from reporting these deaths and these cases. We have an open approach to be able to record the actual impact of disease [COVID-19] in society." WHO demanded "more comprehensive data" from China to be able to accurately assess the progress of the SARS-CoV-2 disease.

“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,” WHO director-general, Tedros noted. 

Beijing has registered only 22 deaths linked to the coronavirus since December 2022. "We continue to ask China for more rapid, regular, reliable data on hospitalization and deaths, as well as more comprehensive, real-time viral sequencing," WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, urged the Chinese authorities.