WHO: Deaths Due To Covid 'heavily underreported' In China; Thanks To US Transparency

BEIJING: In addition to highlighting Washington's "radical transparency" in its efforts to combat a new sub-variant, the WHO reaffirmed Wednesday the need for China to disclose more information on its exploding Covid epidemic. The World Health Organization has often expressed alarm about the fact that China's official statistics do not accurately reflect the effects of the country's recent spike in Covid cases.

WHO's head of emergencies Michael Ryan told reporters, "WHO still feels that deaths are significantly underreported from China." He cited "the necessity for clinicians in the public health system to be encouraged to disclose these situations, and not discouraged" in addition to Beijing's restrictive definition of what constitutes a "Covid death."

He applauded the American government's help, in contrast, as the new Omicron sub-variant XBB.1.5 spreads quickly there. "The United States has engaged with the WHO with radical transparency regarding the data and the implications of that data," he claimed.

According to reports, Washington has so far provided practically all the information on XBB.1.5, the most contagious form of Covid to date, according to Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO's technical lead on Covid.

She told reporters that the sub-variation, which has been found in 38 nations, obviously has a "growth advantage" over other varieties of the virus. Additionally, it is thought to be more adept in evading immune defences brought up by previous infections or vaccinations.

Despite greater cooperation, Ryan cautioned that "we still do not have adequate information to perform a fully comprehensive risk assessment" in China.

According to sources, after three years of imposing some of the strictest anti-pandemic regulations in the world, China abruptly abandoned its "zero-Covid" strategy last month. That caused an outbreak of illnesses that overflowed crematoriums and packed hospitals.

However, out of a population of 1.4 billion, just 37 Covid-related deaths have been reported in China since last month, according to official statistics.

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