China: The covid situation in China is degrading each day. While the Chinese government has refrained from releasing the covid data, sources claim that there is a shortage of space in hospitals and crematoriums amidst the rise in the covid cases in the country. Now, another shocking claim has come up from a British virologist Jonathan Latham. He claims that China is not showing the actual data at the ground zero level and misleading the people with no transparency.
“China is clearly not being open and transparent about case numbers or deaths. This is true for many countries though. It would be great to have truly accurate information on those points, however, since only timely and accurate data can lead to good decisions in china and elsewhere. Good data would also test the theory that newer variants such as omicron have a lower inherent death rate”, Jonathan said in his claim.
The British virologist further said, “The pandemic response of authorities has generally been very poorly thought out and executed. It is doubtful that warnings from China would have made a difference, either today or back in 2019/2020. Even western warnings in late 2019 were ignored. From afar it is difficult to be truly certain but it seems that china has lost the control over covid that it had for so long. Probably this is because the newer variants that have arrived are more infectious than those with which it dealt successfully in the past. Reduced vigilance in china likely also played a role too.”
On the other hand, the World Health Organization is keen to know the situation in china and the spread of Covid worldwide. In a statement, WHO officials said, “A high-level meeting took place on 30 December between WHO and China about the current surge in COVID-19 cases, to seek further information on the situation, and to offer WHO’s expertise and further support.” Strict measures are also being taken in the country to control the spread of covid from worsening further.