WHO not having data on China's new Covid outbreak suspicious

Geneva: Raising doubts about whether China is hiding the extent of the fresh Covid-19 outbreak there, the World Health Organisation (WHO) informed that it had not received any data on China's new hospitalisations, Reuters reported.

But WHO also said that it could be because Chinese authorities are struggling to tally the cases.

It was WHO's weekly data that showed the rising hospitalisation after the fresh Covid-19 outbreak in China. This was after the country's December 7 decision to lift the Zero Covid Policy following severe public protests.

The cases peaked at 28,859 through to December 4, the WHO graph suggested. It was the top figure in China since the pandemic's first breakout three years ago. However, figures from China were absent in the last two WHO reports.

The world's second-largest economy, China, was relentlessly accused of downplaying the pandemic situation. Some experts said that the country's narrow criteria to identify Covid fatalities did not churn up the real numbers.

Some experts called the absence of data from China seriously suspicious. China is hiding data that are important for understanding the full impact of its decision to end Zero Covid Policy, an expert told Reuters.

Another expert said that it is hard to criticise China since some countries have not reported any cases at all.

WHO emergencies chief Mike Ryan opined that he doesn't think China is actively hiding the situation since they are "behind the curve."

The global rules on disease outbreaks mandate that countries must communicate information on outbreaks, but they cannot be forces, reports Reuters.