China continues withholding COVID data

The World Health Organization said China is not sharing reliable data about the country's COVID-19 infections or viral sequencing, which could be used by the global medical agency to carry out risk assessments of the current virus situation. 

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday that officials met with their counterparts in China within the last week to discuss the surge in cases there.

"We continue to ask China for more rapid, regular, reliable data on hospitalizations and deaths, as well as more comprehensive, real-time viral sequencing," Tedros said. 

"With circulation in China so high and comprehensive data not forthcoming – as I said last week it is understandable that some countries are taking steps they believe will protect their own citizens," he said. "Data remains essential for WHO to carry out regular, rapid and robust risk assessments of the current situation."

China has submitted less than 800 COVID genetic sequences to the WHO, the majority of which were collected after Dec. 1, 2022, and labeled as "imported cases" or not labeled at all. The cases did not show a new variant or mutation of known significance, the WHO said.

President Joe Biden raised additional concerns on Wednesday about China's handling of the pandemic one day before his travel restrictions on visitors from China went into effect.

"China has not been — I know they’re very sensitive ... when we suggest they haven’t been that forthcoming," he said.

China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning defended Beijing's response.

"Facts have proved that China has always, in accordance with the principles of legality, timeliness, openness and transparency, maintained close communication and shared relevant information and data with the WHO in a timely manner," Mao said, according to Reuters.

Even as unconfirmed documents from China show that as many as 250 million people may have been infected with COVID last month, China's official death toll rose by six since the country dropped its "zero-COVID" policies on Dec. 7, according to a study published this week in The BMJ. The study predicted 1.7 million deaths in China by the end of April 2023.