China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention will also study the excess deaths, with a view to making this data public, given the suspicion that the official data on cases and deaths from COVID-19 does not accurately reflect the true magnitude of the pandemic, especially now that there is an explosion of infections.
Experts will calculate the difference between the total number of deaths and the number that would be expected in a non-pandemic context. The Center’s chief epidemiologist, Wu Zunyou, explained Thursday that by introducing a new variable, it will become clear whether the authorities have «underestimated» the extent of the health emergency.
«Deaths caused by COVID-19 are a global concern,» said Wu, in a briefing picked up by the COVID-19 agency and in which he confirmed that the authorities will apply a strategy similar to that already adopted to estimate the impact of the initial outbreak, in the city of Wuhan. The Ministry of Health added nearly 1,300 deaths to its official count.
The Government’s lack of transparency with the data is compounded by the change in protocols, which, for example, no longer contemplate mass screening of tests as had been done by zones since the outbreak of the pandemic. It has also restricted the definition of death due to COVID-19, so that only victims of respiratory failure directly caused by the virus are taken into account.
The government estimates that thousands of cases are detected each day, although the highest health authority recognizes that last week almost 37 million cases were recorded in a single day. Faced with this out-of-control situation, several countries, including the United States, have opted to re-impose restrictions on travelers from China.
Images posted on social media show hospitals overflowing, but an official who oversees hospitals within the Ministry of Health, Jiao Yahui, has stated that 80 percent of intensive care beds are not yet filled. He did admit that there may be a peak in some areas, including the capital, Beijing.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
