The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday emphasized the need for China to share more information about the new coronavirus outbreak. but at the same time praised the US “Extremely Transparent” in Efforts to Fight New Subspecies of COVID-19
Michael Ryan, Director of the World Health Organization’s Emergency Program told reporters that “The World Health Organization continues to believe that China is significantly under-reporting deaths,” he said, blaming the change in the definition of deaths from COVID-19 . to narrow China
Previously, the World Health Organization has repeatedly voiced its concern. that China’s official statistics do not show the true impact of the current wave of cases of COVID-19.
On the other hand, Ryan praised the cooperation of US officials. The land where a new subspecies of the mutant omikron XBB.1.5 is spreading rapidly. “There is extreme transparency on the part of the United States. in terms of coordinating with the World Health Organization in terms of the information and its impact.”
Maria van Kirkhof, Technical Lead for COVID-19 from the World Health Organization Says that Washington has provided almost all data available so far on the fastest-spreading XBB.1.5 ever seen.
he told reporters. This subspecies of the mutant omykron Found so far in 38 countries, it is clearly more than other strains of the virus and is believed to be better at avoiding immunity from infection or vaccination previous than other mutants. However, Van Kirkhove said: “We still have no data on violence. .”
Meanwhile, in China, Ryan warned, even with more cooperation, “But we don’t have enough data yet to make a comprehensive risk assessment.”
China is abandoning the policy of COVID-19 It was suddenly zero last month. After more than three years of enforcing one of the world’s strongest anti-pandemic restrictions, the move unleashed a wave of contagion. which led to overcrowded conditions in hospitals and crematoria overflowing with dead bodies
However, from official data found that since last month Only 37 deaths related to COVID-19 have been recorded in China out of a population of 1.4 billion.
of conflicting information The World Health Organization sympathizes with countries. which chooses to impose regulations on testing for COVID-19 a traveler from china “Without information Countries need to decide on a precautionary approach. And the World Health Organization said it was understandable in this setting. “
However, Chinese officials do not seem eager to change its ways. “I don’t think every cause of death needs to be investigated. current cases,” said Liang Wannian, head of the panel of experts on the COVID-19 response. Related to China’s National Health Commission “The main task during the pandemic should be treatment,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
The World Health Organization has also expressed concern that China and possibly many other countries, have not paid enough attention to the tests and genetic decoding necessary to detect the possibility of new viral mutants.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization told reporters that Since the Omicron epidemic wave peaked last year, “The number of shared decrypted data has decreased by more than 90%, and the number of countries shared decrypted data has been reduced from a third.”
Continued with COVID-19 It still kills between 10,000 and 14,000 people every week. been here since September “The world cannot close its eyes. and hopefully this virus will go away. “
(Source: AFP)
