The WHO emphasized on Wednesday that China has to disclose more information about its exploding Covid-19 outbreak, while complimenting Washington for its “radical transparency” in tackling a new sub-variant.
The World Health Organization has expressed repeated concerns that the official figures for China do not accurately reflect the effects of the country’s recent spike in Covid cases.
Michael Ryan, the organization’s head of emergencies, told reporters that “WHO still feels that deaths are significantly underreported from China.” He also blamed the narrow definition of death on Beijing’s part, and specifically mentioned “the ardent necessity of competent doctors in public health system”.
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In contrast, Ryan praised the American government’s collaboration, where the new Omicron sub-variant XBB.1.5 is fast spreading. “The United States has engaged with the WHO over the data and the impact of that data with radical transparency,” he claimed.
The majority of the information now accessible on XBB.1.5, the most contagious variant of Covid to date, has been provided by Washington, according to Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s technical lead on Covid.
According to her, the sub variation, which has been found in 38 countries, definitely has a “growth advantage” over other strains of the virus. It is also thought to be more adept at evading immune defences from earlier infections or vaccinations. She continued, “We don’t yet have data on severity.”
Despite greater cooperation, Ryan cautioned that “we still do not have adequate information to perform a full comprehensive risk assessment” in China.
After three years of imposing among 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.
According to WHO director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, since the Omicron wave’s peak last year, “the number of sequences being exchanged has declined by more than 90%, and the number of nations sharing sequences has fallen by a third.”
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He nevertheless stated that “the world cannot close its eyes and assume that this virus would go away” despite the fact that Covid had continued to kill between 10,000 and 14,000 people per week since September.
