WHO Criticizes China for Underreporting COVID-19 Death Toll

Tedros Secretary-General "Concern Over Increase in Severe Patients"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Haeyoung] As suspicions grow that China, which recently lifted its COVID-19 lockdown, is concealing death statistics, the World Health Organization (WHO) has urged China to release reliable data.

According to the Washington Post on the 21st (local time), WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated, "Detailed information on the severity of the disease, bed availability, and the need for intensive care unit (ICU) support is necessary to comprehensively assess the current risk situation."

Director-General Tedros expressed, "We are very concerned about the current increase in severe COVID-19 cases in China," adding, "Some scientists believe that unchecked spread of COVID-19 could encourage the emergence of new variants."

Experts have pointed out that Chinese health authorities have been minimizing the scale of the COVID-19 outbreak by counting and announcing death numbers in a way that results in very limited related information. Currently, China does not count deaths as COVID-19 related unless the cause of death is pneumonia or respiratory failure, even if the person was infected with COVID-19. Since the easing of restrictions, Chinese authorities have reported only seven deaths over a fifteen-day period. Meanwhile, crematorium demand has increased more than fivefold compared to usual, raising suspicions that the actual number of deaths is much higher.

Mike Ryan, head of the WHO Emergency Response Team, pointed out, "Limiting COVID-19 death determinations to people who test positive and have respiratory failure can result in death statistics being recorded much lower than reality," adding, "We do not want such methods to hinder the acquisition of actual data."

The low vaccination rate among the elderly is also cited as one of the factors behind the spread of COVID-19. He said, "The vaccination rate among those aged 60 and over is lower than in other countries, and the infection prevention rate of Chinese-made vaccines is only about 50%, which is also a factor in China's COVID-19 spread," adding, "Although China has significantly increased its vaccination capacity in recent weeks, it is unclear whether sufficient vaccinations can be administered in a short period without burdening the healthcare system."

As COVID-19 rapidly spreads within China, Germany has sent COVID-19 vaccines such as Pfizer and BioNTech to China. China had only allowed domestically produced COVID-19 vaccines, but since the easing of restrictions on the 7th, infections have surged, causing shortages of medicines in various places.

Additionally, the Chinese government has shifted its quarantine policy from 'Zero COVID' to 'With COVID' since early this month, and it is reported that quarantine regulations for overseas arrivals will be relaxed starting next year. There are expectations that the number of COVID-19 cases will increase further. Hong Kong Satellite TV reported the day before, "From January 3rd next year, facility quarantine measures for overseas arrivals in Beijing will be abolished," adding, "Chinese authorities will optimize entry quarantine measures to 0+3 and fully open the gates." The 0+3 policy means conducting only three days of medical monitoring without mandatory quarantine or PCR testing. Currently, China applies a 5+3 policy for overseas arrivals, meaning five days of facility quarantine followed by three days of self-quarantine.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.