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China, the target of suspicion and criticism for its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, reviewed the numbers and announced on Friday (17) 1,290 additional deaths in the city of Wuhan, ground zero of the new coronavirus.
Chinese official balances of coronavirus infections and deaths have been causing various suspicions for several weeks, starting with the United States government. So far, China has announced 3,342 deaths and more than 82,000 infections in a country of almost 1.4 billion people.
The new Covid-19 death balance represents a 38.6% increase over previously published data.
This Friday, the city of Wuhan surprised the world by increasing the death toll from the new coronavirus by 50%.
In a statement published on social media, the Chinese city of 11 million inhabitants explains that, at the peak of the epidemic, some patients died in their homes because they could not be cared for in hospitals and were not counted.
With the new figures, the total balance of deaths in China has increased to 4,632 deaths.
New figures from Wuhan cast doubt on what happened in China
Since it emerged in Wuhan in December 2019, the new coronavirus has killed 141,127 people and infected 2.1 million, according to an AFP balance, based on official data, probably less than the actual human cost of this pandemic.
Wuhan, who was the epicenter of Covid-19 in China, raises the death toll to 3,869,000
Wuhan’s new numbers doubts about what really happened in China when the pathogen was detected and how reliable the balance sheets of the authorities really are, accused of a lack of transparency in crisis management.
French President Emmanuel Macron assessed in an interview with the Financial Times on Thursday that there are unknown aspects of China’s handling of the new coronavirus pandemic.
“We will have to ask difficult questions about the emergence of the virus and why it could not be stopped earlier,” said British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab in the same tone.
US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Chinese leaders have been misleading and opaque about the outbreak, and that he does not believe they are honest even now.
He said it was difficult to believe the information from the Chinese Communist Party.
“They have been false to us and have been opaque, if you want to call it that, since the early days of this virus. So I don’t have much faith that they have been faithful to us now, ”he said.
The Chinese government says it did not hide anything
The Chinese government denied on Friday that it would hide COVID-19’s balance sheet figures.
“There was never any concealment and we will not authorize any,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian.
Zhao acknowledged “delays, omissions, and inaccuracies” in death records at the start of the epidemic, as a result of the hospital’s overcrowding.
“But China’s response to the epidemic is impeccable,” he added.
Did the virus appear in an open-air market in Wuhan where rare species of live animals were sold? A Chinese laboratory that studied bat coronaviruses did not follow safety protocols? Many questions are asked about the origin of the virus.
Wuhan officials acknowledged “delays” and “omissions” when collecting data in hospitals. The updated figures will remain unconvincing criticism and skepticism, but they seem enough for Russian President Vladimir Putin, one of the few world leaders to defend Beijing, to consider the charges against China “counterproductive.”
