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China is experiencing a huge Covid-19 surge after years of hardline containment restrictions were dismantled last month.
A growing number of countries are worried about a lack of data and transparency surrounding China’s outbreak.
Here is why it is sparking concern:
Beijing has admitted the scale of the outbreak has become “impossible” to track following the end of mandatory mass testing last month.
The National Health Commission has stopped publishing daily nationwide infection and death statistics.
That responsibility has been transferred to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which will only publish figures once a month after China downgrades its management protocols for the disease on January 8.
China has only reported 15 Covid deaths since it began unwinding restrictions on December 7, shortly after which it narrowed the criteria by which deaths from the virus are recorded.
This has stoked concerns that the wave of infections is not being accurately reflected in official statistics.
Authorities admitted last week that the scale of data collected is “much smaller” than when mandatory mass PCR testing was in place.
CDC official Yin Wenwu said authorities are now compiling data from hospitals and local government surveys as well as emergency call volumes and fever medicine sales, which will “make up for deficiencies in our reporting”.
Chinese hospitals and crematoriums are struggling with an influx of patients and bodies, with rural areas hit particularly hard.
Several countries including the United States, Australia and Canada last week said they were imposing testing restrictions on arrivals from China because of a lack of transparency on infection data.
