A warning has been issued by the world Health Organization (WHO), that the Covid figures from China “under-represent the truth impact of the disease” in the country, particularly “in terms of death”.
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The relaxing of most restrictions last month has led to increase in the number of Covid cases.
China, however, has stopped the publishing of daily cases data and has announced only 22 deaths related to coronavirus since December.
Dr. Michael Ryan, WHO Emergencies Director, said, “We believe that definition [of a Covid death] is too narrow.”
Dr. Ryan also said, China’s figures “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 further said, in recent weeks, China had heightened its engagement with the WHO, and that he will be expecting “more comprehensive data.”
Also, Dr. Ryan made the suggestion that individual health workers could go ahead and report their own data and experiences.
He said, “We do not discourage doctors and nurses reporting these deaths and these cases. We have an open approach to be able to record the actual impact of disease in society.”
