The World Health Organization (WHO), which has been looking for specific information about the evolution of the virus, was briefed by Chinese experts while state media in China downplayed the seriousness of a COVID-19 infection outbreak on Tuesday (Jan. 3).
The international organization had asked China to submit statistics on hospitalizations, deaths, and immunizations, and had invited the scientists to deliver specific information on viral sequencing at a technical advisory committee meeting on Tuesday.
After the meeting, the WHO's spokeswoman stated that they would speak later, most likely at a news briefing on Wednesday. Earlier, the agency anticipated a "detailed discussion" about the circulated variations in China and around the world.
The reliability of China's case and mortality data has come under growing scrutiny both domestically and internationally in the wake of the country's dramatic U-turn on COVID-19 regulations on Dec. 7. China's foreign ministry referred to some nations' restrictions on travel admission as "simply unreasonable" and claimed they "lacked scientific basis."
Chinese health officials have been advised by the WHO to regularly exchange detailed and up-to-date information on the outbreak. A spokesperson from the White House National Security Council declined to comment on the meeting on Tuesday but echoed WHO requests for further details.
"Public health experts and officials, including in the United States, have been clear it is important that the People's Republic of China (PRC) share more adequate and transparent epidemiological and viral genomic sequence data," the official said.
Following protests that were the most pronounced display of popular opposition during President Xi Jinping's decade in office and had coincided with the economy's slowest growth in nearly half a century, China abandoned the "zero-COVID" policy that he had championed.
Funeral houses have reported a rise in demand for their services as the virus spreads unchecked, and international health experts estimate that China will have at least 1 million fatalities this year.
Chinese experts were quoted as saying on Tuesday by the People's Daily, the Communist Party's official newspaper, that the virus's disease was generally mild for most people. Kang Yan, director of West China Tianfu Hospital at Sichuan University, reported that 46 patients, or 1% of symptomatic infections, had been admitted to intensive care units in the previous three weeks.
Before the committee meeting, two eminent scientists who are also members of the WHO stated they would look for a "more realistic picture" of the situation in China. After it was over, they made no additional comments. However, other observers questioned if Beijing would be completely honest.
