WHO: China reported 218,019 new weekly COVID-19 cases, the World Health Organisation said in its weekly report. China is consistently battling a surge in the cases of the virus. China reported five new deaths related to COVID-19 for Tuesday, bringing the official death count to 5,258, very low by global 218 standards.

In December 2022, WHO said it has received no data from China on new COVID-19 hospitalizations since Beijing lifted its zero-COVID policy, prompting some health experts to question whether it might be hiding information on the extent of its outbreak.

Despite that, the WHO said that the gaps in data might be due to Chinese authorities simply struggling to tally cases.

Experts On Rise In COVID-19 Cases In China

Epidemiologist and health economist Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding has informed that World Health Organisation’s (WHO) head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has asked China to stop under-reporting COVID deaths.

The Director-General of the World Health Organization has asked Chinese authorities to stop hiding the number of COVID deaths in the country.

While taking the Twitter, Dr. Ding wrote, “The @WHO and its Director General @DrTedros has officially called on China to stop underreporting and hiding #COVID19 deaths! The deaths are clearly piling up amid overwhelmed crematoriums. But when will 🇨🇳 admit the true numbers?! ➡️This is the sum of all fears.”

The tweet comes on the day when China defended its handling of the ranging COVID-19 cases surge in the country after US President Biden and WHO raised their concerns. China scrapped its stringent COVID controls last month after protests against them, abandoning a policy that had shielded its 1.4 billion populations from the virus for three years.

Ding had in December shared an image of the insides of hospitals in China, which wholly contradicted the Chinese authorities’ claim that the COVID-19 situation in the country is under control.

China Foreign Minister Stance On COVID-19 Cases

Moreover, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a regular press briefing in Beijing that China had transparently and quickly shared COVID-19 data with the WHO.

Mao said that China’s “epidemic situation is controllable” and that it hoped the WHO would “uphold a scientific, objective and impartial position.”

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“Facts have proved that China has always, in accordance with the principles of legality, timeliness, openness and transparency, maintained close communication and shared relevant information and data with the WHO in a timely manner,” Mao said.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) had also criticized China’s ‘narrow’ definition of Covid deaths—of suppressing deaths.