Geneva: World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said that under-reporting of cases by China has resulted in under-reporting of the organization’s data on the number of COVID-19 deaths worldwide. “Last week, about 11,500 deaths were reported to the WHO: about 40 percent from the Americas, 30 percent from Europe and 30 percent from the Western Pacific region. However, this number is almost certainly an underestimate, an underestimate COVID-related deaths in China, according to the commentary published on the WHO website,” Ghebreyesus told a briefing.
The WHO chief urged all countries to share accurate data to contribute to a more effective fight against the spread of the disease. Last week, Tedros asked China for reliable data on Covid hospitalizations and deaths in the country.
“We keep asking China for more rapid, regular, reliable data on hospitalizations and deaths, as well as more comprehensive, real-time viral sequencing,” Tedros told a media briefing in Geneva.
The remarks came after the WHO held a high-level meeting with counterparts in China to discuss the rise in cases and hospitalisations.
Back in December, the Chinese government dropped its zero-tolerance COVID-19 policy towards the pandemic after nearly three years, which led to a massive increase in cases in just a few weeks. Later in January, mandatory PCR testing and centralized isolation for people arriving in China were cancelled.
The sudden spike in Covid numbers in China has forced several countries including the US, Italy, Japan and South Korea to take stringent measures against travelers arriving from the country.
During the media briefing, Tedros said that during the pandemic, testing and sequencing helped the WHO track the spread and development of new variants.
“But since the peak of the Omicron wave, the number of sequences being shared has dropped by more than 90 percent, and the number of countries sharing sequences has dropped by a third,” he said.
The WHO chief said that countries cannot maintain the same level of testing and sequencing during the Omicron peak. However, he added that the world cannot close its eyes and hope that the virus will go away.
Tedros underlined that sequencing is important to detect and track the emergence and spread of new variants such as XBB.1.5. “We urge all countries now experiencing rapid transmission to scale up sequencing and share those sequences,” he added.