Health workers wait for people to scan a health code to test for the COVID-19 coronavirus in China. AFP
London: Leading scientists advising World Health Organisation (WHO) have asked China to provide a “more realistic picture” of the Covid situation in the country.
Top Chinese scientists were invited to a virtual closed meeting with WHO’s technical advisory group on viral evolution. In the meeting, scientists from both sides discussed the variants that are currently circulating in China.
As Covid cases continue to surge in China, scientists and doctors across the world are wary of the data published by authorities.
Professor Marion Koopmans, a Dutch virologist who is part of the WHO committee told Reuters, “We want to see a more realistic picture of what is actually going on.”
Speaking ahead of the meeting on Tuesday, Koopmans added that some of the data from China like hospitalisation numbers are “not very credible.”
“It is in the interests of China itself to come forward with more reliable information,” she added.
The group meeting consisted of an international committee of experts that has gathered data and briefings from countries going through large waves of Covid infections.
Professor Koopmans said that they have only received only a “tiny fraction” of China’s cases sequenced so far. She has called for the establishment of a global surveillance network to track the spread of SARS-CoV-2.
“Right now, what we are getting is very patchy, but that has been the reality in other parts of the world as well,” she said.
China sent data to international database ahead of meeting
Before the scheduled meeting with WHO, China reportedly submitted genome sequencing data to Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data (GISAID) – an international database that provides open access to genomic data.
The data was based on recently sampled Covid-19 cases from different areas of the country including Beijing, Shanghai, Fujian, Guangzhou, Sichuan, Zhejiang and Inner Mongolia.
GISAID’s homepage posted a statement that mentioned that no new variants of Covid had been detected in the country and the dominant strains were the subvariants of Omicron – BA.5.2, BF. 7, BA. 2.75, and BQ. 1.1.
The data provided by China further indicated that BF.7 outbreaks in Beijing and Fujian originated from Inner Mongolia.
China to release public data once a month
Last week, the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Management said that the country has decided to publish its Covid data once a month after the disease comes under Category B management.
Authorities have downgraded China’s Covid emergency by a level, making restrictions less strict from the current Category A as they say that the disease has become less virulent and will gradually turn into a common respiratory problem.
‘China willing to work with WHO’
Since China lifted its zero-Covid policy, the country has had two meetings with WHO, according to Mi Feng, a spokesperson for the National Health Commission.
“China is willing to continue to work with the international community, including the WHO, to help end the Covid-19 pandemic,” Mi said.
He also claimed that China has kept WHO in the loop about all the Covid-related developments in the past three years and that the two sides have exchanged over 60 technical exchanges.
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