‘Deaths are heavily underreported from China,’ says WHO

World

Published: 2023-01-12 12:32

Last Updated: 2024-03-28 09:52


‘Deaths are heavily underreported from China,’ says WHO
‘Deaths are heavily underreported from China,’ says WHO

During a press conference in Geneva, the Executive Director of the World Health Organization's (WHO) Health Emergencies Program Michael Ryan said that the body believes that "deaths are heavily underreported from China" with regard to Covid-19.

“WHO still believes that deaths are heavily underreported from China and this is in relation to the definitions that are used but also to the need for doctors and those reporting in the public health system to be encouraged to report these cases and not discouraged,” he said.

Ryan added: “We are working ever closer with our colleagues in China to try and understand better the transmission dynamics, but we still do not have adequate information to make a full comprehensive risk assessment.”

China abruptly dropped its "zero-Covid" approach last month after three years of enforcing some of the harshest anti-pandemic restrictions in the world, unleashing a wave of infections that has packed hospitals and overwhelmed crematoriums.